THE OLD VERSION OF: The Tale of the Lost
by PandaShadow
Summary: This version of this story is discontinued, but it is being re-written under the same title. Fell free to go and see that, and if not, you can read this old version if ever your heart desires. - Meera, age seventeen, led a difficult life. She had everything she knew ripped away from her only to be mistreated by someone she thought she could trust. Her draining ability to heal...
1. Thank You, Cloud

**The Tale of the Lost**

**DnCnChIcK369**

**Thank You, Cloud**

**A/N: Lord help me… okay guys, hold on while I go check on all of the stories I'm currently working on…**

**Eh, I guess it's not TOO bad… I'm working on four at a time… eh… who am I kidding? Well, at least whenever I get bored with writing ONE, I'll still have three more to choose to work on!**

**Eh, I'm scared of this fic… If you knew my sister, then you know WHY I'm scared of taking a HUGE risk into the realm of Riku/OC… she ended up leaving the website because of how mean people were to her about her story… and I have to say, I was surprised with the flames she constantly got.**

**This is my first Kingdom Hearts fanfic, and I haven't played in at LEAST five months, so if anything is wrong, don't yell at me, just politely let me know and I'll fix it…**

**PLEASE instead of saying that you don't like Meera because she is a Mary-Sue, (I don't think she is, but I dunno about all you people out there), tell me how I can make her better, okay? **

**Disclaimer: I don't own KH, I own my plot and Meera… and I own HALF of Zopyris… eh… I WISH I owned Riku… or Cloud…**

**WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS TIFIROTH HINTS! Yes, Tifiroth, as in the pairing of Tifa and Sephiroth. I've never seen a Kingdom Hearts one, but I have seen, and previously written, many Final Fantasy VII ones, so I decided to put the pairing to Kingdom Hearts too!**

**…****Be nice to Meera?…**

**Update: January 4, 2008**

**I'm going through all of these chapters and editing and revising them. I'm very fond of them, but I feel like I could have explained some things better and that I need to fix my fifty bajillion grammatical and spelling errors.**

**Oh yeah…**

_Flashback or dream_

'Thoughts'

"Talking"

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A young, fifteen year old red-head looked over the balcony in Radiant Garden, debating on her choice. She looked down, seeing the water of the small lake shimmering in the moonlight. It wasn't a large lake, no, but it _was_ deep enough to drown in.

She turned away from the stone railing and lifted her pale left hand to her right shoulder, wincing at the memory… grieving at the promise… She began pacing, wondering if she was, or wasn't doing the right thing. She looked back into her room from the balcony, thinking of how the warm, soft carpet had felt underneath her feet only a few minutes ago… thinking on if she was willing to give up that feeling forever.

The girl quickly turned back around, tears now streaming down her face. She knew what she had to do. If she didn't, no one would be safe.

She walked over to the edge of the balcony again, looking up in the stars…

"_Shamira, NO!" The girl yelled, staring wide-eyed as her friend, her very first friend, fell before her, bleeding from a large wound in her stomach. The girl fell to the ground, clutching the grass, tears mercilessly falling to the ground. She heard a horrible chuckle…_

"_Hehehe, don't you know girl? All that will ever happen to anyone near you is death. They'll try to protect you from me, and they will die. It will always be your fault. I will kill everyone close to you, and then I WILL kill you. Remember my promise. I never break a promise, girl," The voice said, causing even more tears to flow down her face._

_As the boy disappeared, the girl looked to her friend… and Guardian. Shamira turned her head to the girl._

"_Come here," Shamira whispered weakly. The girl crawled her way over to her Guardian, the Star Guardian, and Shamira gently placed a hand on the girl's right shoulder. "Don't you ever listen to him. You will always have someone to love you, and you will always have someone to protect you. Never give up… I.. believe in y-you…"_

"_Shamira? Shamira? Don't leave me here! No! You can't leave me!" The girl cried, hugging her older, silver haired friend, tears streaming down her face. She held the lifeless body in her arms, just crying through the night, wishing for her mother, her father, anyone to come and help her._

_No one ever came…_

She knew she had to do it. She couldn't cause anymore deaths, and she couldn't allow _him_ the satisfaction of taking her life. She knew, all of those times, she could have healed them. But she forgot her power… whenever _he_ was near her.

When the girl looked down into the lake again, she had made her final decision. She carefully lifted her long, black dress and heaved herself over the railing, so that she was now standing on the ledge, her knuckles whitening from her death grip on the stone railing. She squeezed her eyes shut and slowly let go of the railing.

And she fell.

As she fell, the air rushed around her, and she could feel feathers on her face and arms, but didn't move to brush away the birds around her.

As she fell, she thought about everything. She thought about how she didn't have any purpose to this world. She thought about her empty heart. She thought about how she was going to die.

And she waited for the pain of her body hitting the water at such a high speed…

But it never came.

There was no splash, no pain, no water, no lack of breathing… only a pair of strong, warm arms around her, keeping her from hitting the water.

"Meera… my god, what the hell were you thinking?"

The girl slowly opened her gray eyes to look up into a face with a mixed expression of worry, confusion, and disappointment. She looked away, not being able to take it.

"…Just drop me, will you?" The girl, Meera, asked her savior.

"Meera, why would you do this? Is it because of-"

"Don't say his name…" Meera whispered. "Just drop me, and don't try and save me again. I have no purpose in this world. All I'll ever do is destroy. I cause pain, death… nothing more, and nothing less. The world would be a better place if I was gone," Meera told the man weakly.

He didn't let go of her though. He carried her out of the water and back into her room in the castle of Radiant Garden. He sat her down in her red chair and walked in front of her, taking her hands in his. Meera just stared at her lap, not looking at the man.

"Meera, how could you say that, let alone think it? You know how much we all care about you! You know what it would have done to us if I hadn't of been there to catch you!"

"Cloud… that's why I can't stay here anymore… and anyway, you're the only one who really cares about me… no one else does… but I won't let you die because of me Cloud. I just won't…" Meera explained to the man she could consider an older brother to her.

"Meera, you won't cause my death by being here, but you own death could cause mine. I would be grieving so much that Sephiroth would probably take it as a perfect moment to come back again, and then what would I do? Stay Meera… don't do this to yourself…" Cloud explained.

Meera looked up before jumping into Clouds arms, crying her eyes out. Cloud held her for a while before noticing her crying had stopped and her breathing was even. She was asleep.

Cloud picked her up and carried her over to her bed, tucked her in, and looking at the time. It was almost morning. Cloud quickly closed Meera's thick, black curtains and left her room, telling everyone in the castle not to bother the girl… and that's when he saw them…

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**A/N: Well… it was very dark, what can I say? But I do promise you that I won't pull a Calli on Meera, and only a few of you out there can fully understand what I mean, heh… so btw, please don't judge Meera yet, because this chapter was Meera in depressed mode, not how she normally acts…**

**Any tips or compliments?**

**I'll take 'em!**

**Got some flames?**

**Keep them in your heads and NOT yelling at me for god knows what!**

**Thanks!**

**Alyssa**


	2. King Mickey Said What?

T**he Tale of the Lost**

**DnCnChIcK369**

**King Mickey Said What?**

**A/N: Okay, knowing me, I just posted the first chapter to this, and I'm SO into it right now that I'm probably gonna end up writing ten chapters tonight and posting them every once and a while… hehe…**

**Anyway, the summary is SUPPOSED to say R&R… but my last R got cut off… heh…**

**Now to reply to all my reviewers reviews:**

**LockInspira: Oh my god… I was sitting on the floor, playing Kingdom Hearts 2 again when, at 2:28 AM I got a bit tired, so I decided to check my email… and I found your review! I have to say, I'm REALLY happy you like this story so much! I spent about a week planning everything out and getting my friend, Emily, to draw Meera. Thanks so much!**

**Disclaimer: Go to chapter 1, cuz I don't feel like saying it again!**

**ENJOY!!**

**Update: January 4, 2008**

**Edited this one too. I think I lied. I'm just gonna fix everything grammatically and spelling… so… yeah.**

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_Riku, Sora, and Kairi,_

_I know the three of you have only recently returned home, but it appears we have another problem on our hands. It turns out that Organization XIII had a replacement for Roxas when he was taken. His name is Zopyris, and we have yet to identify his Heartless, or if he has a Somebody, like Sora, Roxas, Kairi, and Namine._

_I will meet you in Radiant Garden, in the castle there. Ask Cloud and he will tell you where I am. I'm sorry I cannot tell you more here, but I don't want our enemies to intercept this a know anything more than they have to._

_Sincerely, King Mickey_

"And this had his symbol on it?" Cloud asked the teenage trio. The three nodded. "And this letter hasn't been edited by any of you at all?" The three shook their heads. Cloud rolled the paper back up, sighing, and gave it back to Sora.

"Turns out we have an imposter on our hands," Cloud explained.

"But why would someone tell us that and pose as King Mickey? It makes no sense that it ISN'T him," Kairi told Cloud. Cloud just shook his head.

"Well I can tell you, for sure, that he isn't here now. By the way, will the three of you stay out of the room on the fifth floor that has the large doors with carvings of a dragons on it?" They nodded. "Thanks. Um… go give Aerith or Tifa a visit or something. I don't really know what to tell you, except that you shouldn't leave Radiant Garden until I can contact King Mickey."

"Okay! See ya later Cloud!" Sora told the older man cheerfully.

"We should probably find somewhere to stay…" Riku told his friends as Cloud walked away. He stopped walking and turned back around toward the teenagers.

"You can stay here, it's really no problem. There are plenty of open rooms, and I don't know how long you three will be here…" Cloud said. They nodded and went to the fourth floor to pick their rooms… so no one noticed when Sora snuck off to the fifth floor… to a certain room he wasn't supposed to go into.

XXXXXXXXXX

Meera's eyes slowly fluttered open, and she wondered, as she looked at the time, why she was asleep so late into the day. It was already 11:00.

And then the memories of last night hit her full force, causing her to lay back down and try to get back to sleep… until she was disrupted by her doors opening.

A boy, about her age, walked into her room. He had spiky brown hair and was wearing mostly black, baggy clothes. Meera sat up and stared at the boy confusedly.

"…What are you doing in my room?" Meera asked the boy. He smiled at her.

"Hi! My name's Sora, and I was just kinda curious as to why Cloud didn't want us to come in here! Are you sick or something?" Sora asked the pale girl.

"It doesn't matter… no can you leave? I need to get dressed," Meera told the boy before he nodded and walked cheerfully out of her room. Meera sighed and got out of bed, taking off her black dress from last night.

She went over to her dresser and slipped on her mid-thigh length, black and purple dress. She put on her black shoes and slowly left her room, looking around for any sign of Cloud. She needed to talk to him.

"Hey Meera, have you seen Cloud?" A tall, pretty, brunette asked Meera. Meera turned around.

"No Tifa… I'm looking for him myself…" Meera explained. Tifa sighed and leaned on the gray wall beside her. Meera just shook her head and made her way to the stairs, to go down to the fourth floor. When she got there, she saw a girl with burgundy hair talking to that boy from earlier… Sora. Meera slowly walked over to them, not bothering to brush her red hair out of her face.

"…Excuse me… Sora, right?" Sora turned to Meera and nodded. "You… you don't happen to know where Cloud is do you?" Meera asked the boy.

"I'm sorry… but all I know is that he went to contact King Mickey," Sora explained. The other girl turned to Meera and smiled. She stuck out her hand, and Meera reluctantly took it.

"Hi! I'm Kairi!" She said cheerfully. Meera just shook her hand before letting go and looking at Sora.

"Are you two dating or something? Because you're just alike…" Meera told the pair of teenagers. Kairi's face turned pink, and Sora's mouth opened and closed a few times before his face turned pink as well.

"N-no… we're not…" Sora stuttered at Meera. Meera smirked before turning and walking away, down to the third floor. Before she left, a door opened and she heard a voice ask, "Hey, who are you two talking to?"

Meera's eyes widened and she ran down the stairs, incidentally bumping right into Yuffie Kisaragi, Ninja Extrodanairre.

"Meera? What's up? You haven't been out of your room in the past few days!" Yuffie asked.

"I'm looking for Cloud… have you seen him anywhere?" Meera asked Yuffie. To Meera's surprise, Yuffie nodded and dragged Meera to the town of Radiant Garden, and into Merlin's house.

"Meet the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee!" Yuffie exclaimed, pointing to Aerith, Cid, and Leon. They all turned around to see the girl that they all knew as "That quiet girl Cloud is always with."

"It's Meera isn't it? Cloud talks about you a lot," Aerith said.

"Well, don't you just look like another one 'o them numbskulls?" Cid commented, causing Meera to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"What is it Meera?" Leon asked. Meera turned to him.

"I want to know where Cloud is," Meera told Leon. He nodded.

"He's waiting in the Gummi dock… apparently, King Mickey is coming because there's been some sort of an impostor," Leon explained. Meera nodded.

"Thanks Squall," Meera said, turning and leaving. Right before she left, she heard him mutter, "She'll never stop calling me that will she?"

As Meera made her way to the Gummi dock, she was very surprised when a… thing… a white thing with a weird symbol on it… jumped out in front of her and tried to attack her. She fell to the hard, cold ground, thinking it really WAS the end of her life that Cloud had saved only last night… but then she heard the clanking sound of metal on stone.

Meera slowly opened her eyes and saw that the white thing was gone… but now there was a large, purple, pink, and black… sword thing in front of her. It looked a bit like a key. Meera picked it up and examined it before deciding it WAS a very large key… a very large… SHARP key.

And then it disappeared into thin air. Meera just dismissed it, and continued walking to the Gummi dock, but she saw Cloud and a little mouse on her way there.

"Meera, what are you doing here?" Cloud asked. Meera took a glance at the mouse before looking back up at Cloud.

"Looking for you," Meera told him.

"Is this the girl you were talking about Cloud?"

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**A/N: Wahahaha… who was that voice? And why did Meera run away from said voice? If you can figure it out I'll give you a cookie… and it's kinda impossible to figure out anyway, heh…**

**This chapter was hard to write… and super boring… I can't wait til chapter four, because there's a whole super lot of Riku in chapter four! See ya soon!**

**Alyssa**


	3. The Fifth Keyblade Bearer

**The Tale of the Lost**

**DnCnChIcK369**

**The Fifth Keyblade Bearer**

**A/N: GAH! I am so sorry these chapters are so BORING! But I promise it will get better next chapter… next chapter has Riku in it muahahahaha!**

**Cookie awarding time:**

**LockInspira: …You shall never cease to amaze me my friend… You even sat down and read the most BORING chapter I have ever written in my entire life… WOW, and thanks! You get… a whole plate of cookies and a cake instead of just one cookie! Because… yes, the voice was Riku… and ONE of your assumptions of why Meera ran away was… mostly correct. Amazing, my friend, utterly amazing… Thanks again for the review! AND for taking the time to read my story!**

**Disclaimer: CHAPTER ONE!!! I'm not sayin it again…**

**SO if anyone is actually reading this chapter… 50 cookies that never get rotten go to you for putting up with two full chapters of boredom… sigh… and before I type up this chapter, I'm gonna go take a shower!**

**Update: January 5, 2008**

**Grammar and spelling. Enjoy! **

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"Um, yes Your Majesty, this is her," Cloud told the mouse, whom Meera now assumed was this 'King Mickey'.

"Ah, Miss Meera, do I have some news for you," Mickey told the teenage girl with a smile. The three walked silently back to the castle and went into Meera's room, passing Kairi on the way, who decided to come along since her two friends were busy talking about… guy stuff.

In Meera's room, Meera and Kairi sat on the bed, and Cloud in Meera's chair. Mickey didn't want a seat.

"Kairi, do you know that you are a keyblade bearer? The Keyblade Riku gave you, it Is yours, created for you. And it appears that there are not four Keyblade Bearers as we all thought… no there are five," Mickey said, now looking towards Meera. "You, Miss Meera, are the fifth Keyblade Bearer."

"Why am I a… a Keyblade Bearer?" Meera asked. Mickey shrugged.

"I am not sure as to WHY they keyblade's have taken a liking to picking teenagers as their owners, and I do not know why they choose who they do. All I know for now is that you are one of the five."

Cloud looked towards Meera, and then Kairi.

"Why aren't Riku and Sora up here?" Cloud asked her. Kairi shrugged.

"They said for me not to bother them because of some kind of… 'Guy Stuff'?" Kairi said, uncertainly. Cloud smirked and nodded. Meera sighed and looked toward the King.

"Continue please," Meera requested. Mickey nodded.

"This impostor… they know the same things I was going to tell you all, so yes, Zopyris IS real, and the only survivor of Organization XIII," Mickey said, noticing Meera's eyes widen, and water a bit. Cloud looked away from Mickey, Meera, and Kairi, and Kairi turned to the girl, worried.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked. Meera quickly looked down and sighed.

"It's nothing… keep going Your Majesty," Meera said. Mickey nodded again.

"Only the five Keyblade Bearers can defeat him, and all five happen to be in this castle at this moment. Zopyris has a bit of a legend about him though. It turns out he is only sixteen, and was a Nobody since his other self was four… I do not know the identity of his other self, and I do not know whether or not his other remained a Heartless, or is a Somebody like you, Kairi, and Sora.

"But as it turns out, there was a young girl he found out about at age eight… a seven year old girl who had the ability to heal with just a touch, and although he knew the power severely drained her energy, almost to the point of death, he sought her out. This legendary power could heal any wound, even fatal… but it cannot heal the dead.

"It took him a year of searching to find the girl, who he then took from her home and made her only to heal him. The girl refused, and it is said that, at age nine, this boy severely injured, and scarred this girl, and made a promise to kill her. We must find her, and protect her, since Zopyris has killed her two Guardians," Mickey explained.

Meera looked up again, tears streaming down her face, and she ran out of her room, running aimlessly until she ran into a body…

XXXXXXXXXX

Cloud looked toward the door, and then to Mickey whose face showed a worried and confused expression. Cloud sighed.

"I doubt she would want me to tell you why that upset her so much… but all I'll tell you without her consent is that she knows Zopyris… and doesn't have any fond memories of him," Cloud explained to the two worried Keyblade Bearers. "I'd better go and check on her."

Cloud stood and left the room, the two inside sharing troubled glances and Kairi rushing downstairs to tell Sora and Riku about this new news, and about this girl they were supposed to find.

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**A/N: Once again, I found it boring… all I did was tell the plot…sigh… DON'T WORRY! Next chapter will rock your socks off! Hehe… it has Riku in it… FINALLY! I'm gonna have so much fun with it I tell ya!**

**I bet you're wondering why I'm updating so fast, right? Because I don't want to loose my readers because they don't like the boring part of this story… but for a warning, after chapter four, I'm not gonna be updating daily anymore… maybe more like twice a week… depending on the time I have with school starting up and all.**

**Thanks!**

**Alyssa**


	4. More Worlds, and a Moment of Confusion

**The Tale of the Lost**

**DnCnCnChIcK369**

**More Worlds, and a Moment of Confusion**

**A/N: YES! I have updated the second interesting chapter in the ENTIRE story! YAY ME! Riku's in this one… and some more worlds… and more information, only a tiny bit, of Meera's past. And a little hint as to some stuff about Zopyris. Hehe… this is gonna be a fun chapter guys!**

**Cookie Rewarding Time:**

**Iamtheflames: Gah, you own less than half, and it's not MY fault you got ideas and put them into a slide show on MY computer:P So ha! Amazingly well-written? Wow, so I have two reviewers, one of which really, really likes my story… and the other of which helped with the plot and Meera and says it's "Amazing well-written"… I'm shocked! You write a Riku/OC fic and I swear I'll kill you! You KNOW Riku is MY thing! You just go… write about Cloud or something! Thanks for reading and reviewing anyway:P**

**LockInspira: Hehe, yup! And now you get even MORE cookies for reviewing, and reading, those two super duper boring chapters! I promise, this one is a whole lot better! I do believe I may use that "Put them all together and have a tiny bar" idea for any future boring sets of chapters, heh… Thanks for the review!**

**Hehe, so now for the fun chapter! Eh… If you want the effing disclaimer… once again, go back to chapter one, cuz I'm not sayin it again, hah!**

**Update: January 6, 2008**

**Spelling and grammar... **

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"Mickey?" Kairi asked the mouse. Mickey's ears flopped around as he turned back to the fourth Keyblade Bearer.

"Yes Kairi?" Mickey asked the girl.

"Um… so, the five of us are going on another quest?" Kairi asked. Mickey nodded. "I was wondering… some of the worlds that Sora told me about in his first journey… he didn't go to them again in his second. Do you know why?" Kairi asked.

"Kairi, there are many more worlds than Sora or even I have ever been to. I have a feeling that, in this journey, not only will you re-visit the previous ones, but there will be many new worlds as well. I am certain of a few of the worlds, old and new, that we will be going to, if you would like me to write them down for you?" Mickey explained to Kairi. She nodded and reached in her back pocket, pulling out a pencil and a notepad, giving it to the mouse.

After Mickey was done writing, he gave the notepad and pencil back to Kairi. It read:

Atlantica 

_Beast's Castle_

_Disney Castle_

_Halloween Town_

_Radiant Garden_

_Olympus Coliseum_

_Port Royal_

_The World That Never Was_

_Twilight Town_

_Destiny Islands_

_Wonderland_

_Never Land_

_The Circus_

_The New World_

_The Anenomy_

_Monster's Inc._

"Wow… and these are only the places you're SURE we're hoping to go to?" Kairi asked, looking up from her notepad… only to notice that Mickey had left the room, Kairi following suit.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Oh, I'm sorry, I-"

Meera looked up that the sound of that voice… and screamed before running away from this man before her, all the way out of the castle, not stopping until she reached the lake behind the castle, sitting down on her favorite bench.

She laid down, her eyes closed, and she relaxed, hoping that that man hadn't followed her out there. When she opened her eyes, looking up, she saw Kairi at the fourth floor balcony looking down at her, before Kairi grabbed a vine and climbed down to where Meera was.

"You okay? You're name's Meera, right?" Kairi asked. Meera nodded and sat back up, allowing Kairi to take a seat on the bench. Meera made sure her hair was covering her right shoulder.

"I-I'm fine…" Meera muttered, looking down at her knees. She heard footsteps to their left and didn't even turn to look. She just stared into the light blue, shimmering water. Kairi looked though.

"Riku? What are you doing?" Kairi asked, looking from him to Meera, and back to him again.

"Running, avoiding weird lifts that don't work, and running into doors, _trying_ to apologize and see what that girl's problem is!" Riku exclaimed, gesturing toward Meera. "Who is she anyway?"

"Meera, what happened?" Kairi asked the girl. Meera looked over to Riku before quickly looking away, to Kairi instead.

"He ran into me and… just startled me is all. I've… had a bad week…" Meera told Kairi, making a point to not look at Riku. Kairi smiled and stood up, before dragging the girl over to Riku. Meera bit her teeth before looking up at him, and then staring at Kairi like she was insane.

"Both of you apologize! I _know_ you both can!" Kairi exclaimed, a bit annoyed at their childish behavior. Meera turned her face back to Riku's and stared at him, raising an eyebrow… waiting. He bit down on his tongue before saying anything, and Kairi coughed expectantly.

"I'm _sorry_ for running into you and _startling_ you…" Riku said, obviously not meaning it. Meera grunted and kept her teeth tightly pressed together.

"Well _I'm_ so _sorry_ that I was_ so __**rude**_. Oh please_forgive_ me," Meera added, smirking for good measure. Riku glared at Meera. Meera returned the glare, equally fierce, before Kairi pulled Meera away from Riku.

"I guess that's as good as it'll get from either of you…" Kairi sighed. Meera broke free of Kairi, still seething, and took a seat on the bench, a raven flying over to her and landing on her finger. Meera pet the bird, calming herself somewhat.

"I don't like him," Meera told Kairi, focusing on the raven. Kairi sighed and sat down beside Meera, watching the bird, and Meera, intensely.

"Why though? You just met him, only a few minutes ago… right?" Kairi asked. Meera let the bird fly away before crossing her hands in her lap, staring at them.

"Yes. I did only just meet him… I just don't like him. He gives me this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach…" Meera explained, looking to Kairi. She sighed before standing up.

"Well, I'll go talk to Riku, and see what _his_ problem is…"

5 Minutes Later 

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I NEED TO APOLOGIZE FOR APOLOGIZING WRONG!?!?!?!?!"

Meera looked up at the fourth floor balcony and rolled her eyes at the sound of Riku yelling at Kairi. Meera grabbed a vine and climbed up before knocking on the glass door into Kairi's room. Kairi stopped saying whatever she was saying and came to the door, letting Meera inside.

"Oh, he doesn't need to apologize again Kairi. His apology was just as good as mine," Meera said, a smirk on her face. She could almost _feel_ Riku glaring at her. Kairi moaned and looked from Riku to Meera.

"Guuuuuuuuuys, you two HAVE to get along sometime! Me, you two, Sora, and the King are going on this journey _together_, so if we EVER want to achieve the name of TEAM, can't you at lease be CIVIL?" Kairi asked the two. Meera's smirk fell, and she huffed, looking away from Riku. He grunted and stared at Kairi.

"SHE'S the one who screamed at me while I was TRYING to apologize!" Riku exclaimed. Meera turned her face back to Kairi.

"I was OBVIOUSLY upset about what Mickey said, and he DELIBERATELY ran into me!" Meera yelled, pointing at Riku.

"SHE ran away and made me fall down a lift trying to figure out which way SHE ran off to!" Riku added.

"Well HE… um… uh…" Meera stuttered, lowering her hand. Riku smirked.

Riku: 1 Meera: 0 

"Would you two just STOP IT?" A fourth voice yelled from the door way, causing all three heads to snap there. Sora stood there, a bag of ice on his head. "My room is right next door and you, Meera, and you, Riku, are yelling like mad and giving me a HUGE migraine… and I've never had a headache before in my LIFE! So… just STOP IT!"

All three of their mouths dropped at Sora's annoyance and anger, since he was always so nice… Kairi figured it was a bit of Roxas coming out in his personality. She went back into his room with him, leaving Riku and Meera alone.

"I don't like you," Meera told him, a fierce glare on her face.

"Oh yeah? Well, I don't like you either!" Riku exclaimed, glaring even more fiercely.

"Hmph!" Meera huffed before going back onto the balcony and climbing up a vine to her own balcony… "And good riddance…" She muttered, sticking her tongue out at the air below her.

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**A/N: Wow… that was SO super fun to write! Hehehe, this is my favorite chapter I have EVER written in my life of ANY story EVER! MAN! Love it!**

**No flames please!**

**Thanks,**

**Alyssa**


	5. Meera and her Magical Clothes

**The Tale of the Lost**

**DnCnChIcK369**

**Meera and her Magical Clothes**

**A/N: Yes, Meera will now get the clothes found in the link on my profile page. Eventually, I'm gonna color that picture, but for now, just know that it's black and purple… like almost everything ELSE she owns…**

**Cookie rewarding time:**

**Cauryn Terenkey: Thanks for the review! And yes, that voice was Riku… and yes, Riku's voice DOES sound a lot like Zopyris's … I'm not saying how or why yet. So… YOU GET COOKIES! One for guessing correctly, and a big plate of infinite, never-rotting cookies for still reading my story when it was so super boring! YAY YOU! And for your other review… All I'm gonna say is that I replied to THAT one privately… Heh…**

**LockInspira: Lol, didn't think of that! Heh… thanks for the compliment and the review! OH and you get some more cookies… wow I hope you all don't get fat, hehe…**

**Wilixer: Wow, thanks so much! I was just about to get to typing up this chapter when I decided to check my email to see if my friend Emily had reviewed yet, and I saw yours… wow… I honestly wasn't expecting this many reviews this early! Thanks a super lot for the review, and here's the update! And here are some cookies for you!**

**So… here it is! Chapter 5!!!**

**Update: January 7, 2008**

**Grammar and Spelling...yeh... **

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_Knock, knock, knock…_

"Meera, let me in," Cloud's voice said through her thick doors. Meera sighed and walked over, slowly opening her door and letting Cloud… and three overly large fairies come into her room.

"…What?" Meera asked. The fairies turned toward each other and began bickering in hushed voices… before Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Mickey came in too. Riku and Meera exchanged a glare before fully ignoring each other.

"Ladies, stop your bickering and get Meera set with her new clothes…" Cloud told the color-coded fairies.

"And, um, you might want to just start out all three of you working together on it, instead of fighting over that too…" Sora suggested, remembering what happened when they made him his clothes…

"Wait, what are you doing?" Meera asked.

"Oh dear, didn't you know? We're here to design your new clothes, ones suitable for your travels! Riku was supposed to tell you!" Exclaimed the blue fairy. Meera turned her head toward Riku and he just shrugged, smirking. Meera huffed and turned back to the three fairies, nodding.

"Go ahead…" Meera said.

"All right girls, all together now…" The three fairies said, Meera closing her eyes. She felt a tickling sensation and when it stopped, she opened her eyes and looked down. She was wearing a short-sleeved dress. It was black, and where the top layer stopped, one-fourth of the way down her thigh, another, thinner layer came out that was dark purple with gray lace coming out of the bottom, this part reaching mid-thigh. She wore knee-high boots that were a very dark gray, or a very light black. She was glad it was covering her shoulder…

"Wow…" Meera muttered, looking toward the other five in the room. Kairi smiled and nodded, Sora just nodded, Cloud didn't give any visible reaction, Mickey smiled, and… Riku glared… "Would you STOP doing that?"

"Doing what?" Riku asked. Meera rolled her eyes before turning back to the three fairies.

"Thanks… but um… why are these clothes any better than my others?" Meera asked. The three giggled and turned to Sora.

"Sora, dear, you can explain it to the three of them later, can't you?" The red fairy asked. Sora nodded again and pushed Riku and Kairi in front of the three fairies, Meera stepping aside.

"Um… I'd really prefer if you didn't change my clothes… just add the… magic stuff to 'em?" Riku requested uncertainly. Kairi nodded in agreement about her clothes also.

"If you say so," The green fairy commented. The three did their magic, causing Kairi and Riku's clothes to glow before the glow went away, and the fairies lowered their wands, smiling. "Well, you're all set! Donald and Goofy are waiting in the Gummi dock. You shouldn't keep them waiting for too long."

Mickey exited Meera's room, followed by Kairi, Riku, and Sora. Cloud turned to Meera before walking over and giving her a hug.

"Be careful Meera…" Cloud muttered. Meera's head snapped up and her eyes widened.

"You mean we're leaving NOW?" Meera asked. Cloud nodded.

"But… I can teach you how to summon your Keyblade before you go. Hold out your right hand," Meera did so. "Now concentrate hard on your Keyblade… I'm assuming you've seen it before, correct?" Meera nodded. She closed her eyes and appeared to be deep in thought before there were a few shiny lights and her Keyblade appeared in front of her. She opened her eyes and looked up at Cloud.

"Thank you Cloud… I'll miss you," Meera commented. Cloud nodded before leading her safely to the Gummi dock, and Meera was surprised when she saw Yuffie, Tifa, Aerith, Leon, and Cid all standing there, waiting to see her off. Tears sprung to her eyes as they all gave her a hug… of some sort, and wished her farewell and good luck.

"Thanks guys…" Meera told them all. They nodded, smiled, and Cloud took Meera to the Gummi ship door, lightly pushing her inside, where she ran into Riku's back, but quickly pushed herself off and took a seat, far, far away from Riku.

"You must be Meera," A duck said to Meera. She nodded. "I'm Donald, and that guy over there id Goofy."

"Hiya Meera!" Goofy exclaimed before sitting down in front of her, Donald, Sora, and Mickey taking the controls. Kairi sat down beside Meera, and Riku went in the back corner of the ship… away from everyone, sulking.

"…"

"So, Meera… Have you seen all of our Keyblades?" Kairi asked Meera. She shook her head.

"I haven't seen anyone's except for mine. Why?" Meera asked, slightly curious. Kairi leaned over to Meera and whispered something in her ear.

"Look… I know you don't like him, but I'm trying to get Riku to stop being so depressed lately. He used to be stuck in the Darkness, and he's feeling guilty for everything. Could you at least try to be nice to him? At least until he stops sulking?" Kairi requested. Meera sighed and turned to look at said Keyblade Bearer, sulking in a corner.

"Fine…" Meera whispered back. "What's that have to do with you Keyblades?" Meera asked quietly. Kairi smiled.

"Well, I was thinking you might like to see them… except for Sora and Mickey since they're a bit busy right now," Kairi said, holding out her hand and summoning her Keyblade that was covered in flowers.

"It's very feminine, isn't it?" Meera commented, comparing Kairi's Keyblade to her own in her mind. Kairi nodded, before turning to Riku. Meera took a deep breath.

"Hey Riku, why don't you come show Meera your Keyblade?" Kairi suggested, making Riku look over toward Meera with a raised eyebrow.

"Why?" Riku asked suspiciously. Kairi turned to Meera also to see what she'd say.

"I just… I want to see how it looks, I guess… I'm bored," Meera explained, pulling her words off the top of her head. Riku shrugged.

"Hold out your arm," Riku told her.

"Why?"

"Just do it," Riku added. Meera held out her arm and stared at Riku expectantly. He rolled his eyes before closing them, seeming to be concentrating. And then there were shiny lights around Meera's hand, and a Keyblade formed there… a Keyblade that Meera assumed to be Riku's.

"When'd you learn how to do THAT?" Kairi asked, in awe. Riku shrugged.

"I guess I taught myself how… after I learned to take someone else's Keyblade from them… I don't know… advantages of being the True Keyblade Master?" Riku uncertainly answered, not all that proud of his title anymore.

"Oh…" Kairi muttered. She turned back around to see Meera closely examining Riku's Keyblade, clearly interested. Meera quickly took a sharp intake of breath, sighed, and walked over to where Riku was sitting, taking a seat beside him. She held his Keyblade out to him, and he stared at her for a moment before taking it back, and dismissing it.

"I have… a question. Why is it that your Keyblade has a distinct shape to it, unlike mine, Sora's, Kairi's, and Mickey's?" Meera asked him, Kairi smiling at her effort, and Riku in shock that she was being so nice to him.

"Uh… I don't really know… It's the same shape as my old sword, Souleater, but it's a Keyblade…" Riku explained. Meera nodded, and walked back over to her seat beside Kairi, everyone silent for about five minutes before Meera turned around, facing Riku again.

"Hold out YOUR arm," Meera said to Riku, startling him. He blinked a few times before doing as she told and holding out his arm. Meera smirked and closed her eyes tightly, imagining a picture of her Keyblade in his hand… and then she heard a slight jingling noise and opened her eyes.

She did it. Her Keyblade was now being held by Riku… and she decided that Kairi owed her BIG for that. Kairi was staring at Meera, apparently amused by her efforts, and Riku was examining Meera's Keyblade. After about three minutes, Meera held out her arm and summoned her Keyblade back to her before dismissing it.

"I still don't like you," Meera and Riku said at the same time.

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**A/N: Awww! Riku and Meera had a moment! HOW CUTE! I wrote it and I'm still in shock with how that scene turned out… Wow, Riku and Meera really have minds of their own… I wasn't planning on half of that scene, heh…**

**Hope you liked it! I'll update again soon!**

**Alyssa**


	6. First Stop: Twilight Town

**The Tale of the Lost**

**DnCnChIcK369**

**First Stop: Twilight Town**

**A/N: My god… I am so sorry. I'm going to apologize so many times. I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry!**

**Is anyone even here::taps screen:: Hello? ANYONE?!?!?!?!? It's been SO long! I'M SO SORRY!**

**I feel SOOOOO bad! Not to mention this chapter… well… it sucks. And thank you guys for the reviews, I'm sorry I can't reply, but I don't know which ones are new! You all get cookies anyway! Please tell me someone is still reading this?**

**Disclaimer in chapter one.**

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"Alright guys, looks like our first stop is Twilight Town," Sora told everyone in the Gummi ship. He had heard the conversations between Meera, Riku, and Kairi earlier, and after that no one said a word to anyone else.

Everyone got out of their seats, following one another in an orderly fashion out the door, where Sora and Kairi were surprised to find Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

"Sora? Kairi? Wow, we didn't think we'd ever see you guys again! You too Donald, Goofy! Who are your friends?" Olette asked, ecstatic at seeing them all again. Sora smiled.

"Well, the tall, sulking guy is Riku-"

"You found your friend? That's great!" She exclaimed, causing Meera to roll her eyes.

"Heh, yeah, it is! Um… you've met King Mickey before, that little mouse guy right there… and the short, sulking girl is Meera," Sora explained, earning a glare from Meera.

"Thanks, I appreciate that Sora," Meera commented sarcastically. "Why are we here anyway?"

"Um…" Sora muttered. He didn't know why they were there either… only that Mickey had told him to stop there, and because it was on Kairi's list.

"Sora, Kairi… you should probably tell these three about Roxas and Namine," Mickey explained to the teens. He smiled and nodded before turning back to Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

"Roxas… that sounds… familiar," Pence commented. He opened his mouth to say something else, but he froze. Hayner and Olette were also frozen.

"What the-"

"Meera?" A male voice asked from behind the group of seven. They turned around, all of them recognizing the voice from somewhere before. Meera, Kairi, Riku, and Sora's eyes widened.

"Axel?" The four asked at the same time. Axel was staring at Meera, and then looked to Sora, and back to Meera.

"You know them?" Axel asked the girl. Meera nodded, obviously still in shock. A single tear slipped down her right cheek.

"He told me… H-he told m-m-me you were dead…" Meera whispered, her voice trembling. Axel smirked, looking toward Sora again.

"Bet you thought I was dead too, huh?" Axel asked, earning a nod from, not only Sora, but everyone else… that wasn't frozen… there.

FLASH 

"No, Axel, stop! Now isn't the time for your cockiness! They musn't know yet!" A voice yelled from the air. Meera and Kairi looked up, startled. They both thought they recognized that voice from somewhere… but were ALSO sure that they had never heard it before in their lives.

"Aw man, Mir… did you HAVE to come and ruin all my fun?" Axel asked this mysterious voice. Meera looked over to Axel.

"Mir… who?" She asked him, deeply confused at this point. There was a big flash of green light and a woman, quite old looking, appeared in front of the group. The woman had curly, light brown hair that reached her lower back, and she wore a large black cloak with small designs of harps on it. There was fur on the shoulders, and the woman glared at Axel with intense, gray eyes.

"Do you want to ruin everything I've worked for, boy?" She asked him, quite apparently angry with the pyromaniac. Axel shook his head vigorously before disappearing in flames. The woman turned to the group.

"Terribly sorry for that interruption. I must be leaving now," The woman told them before disappearing in another flash of green light. Everyone that was frozen was now moving again.

"What happened?" Olette asked Sora. Sora looked to his companions, not knowing what to tell the trio. They all shook their heads, not knowing what was going on either.

"A woman named Miranda was here. Axel is alive. I learned how to speak through Sora's body… that's about it," Sora said… kind of. His voice sounded different. Goofy chuckled and pointed at Sora, who had a bemused expression on his face.

"Roxas learned how to do ventroquizum, and Sora is the dummy, a-hyuck!" He exclaimed.

"Will you ever learn to say anything right, Goofy?" Donald asked. "It's ventriloquism, not ventroquizum!" Everyone laughed at Donald and Goofy's usual bickering.

"So… who's this Roxas?" Hayner asked.

"He's my nobody. Uh… you remember those things that stole your pictures before?" Sora, who everyone now assumed was Sora again, asked the trio. They nodded. "Well, those were nobodies. It's kind of hard to explain, I guess. But, you knew him… in a way, I guess. Ansem didn't get to explain much, and Riku's no help, so I don't completely understand that either."

"Wow, do you normally talk this much?" Meera asked Sora, noticing how long his last few sentences were. Sora laughed and turned around, facing Meera.

"Only when I'm traveling!" He said with a smile. Then it faded into a look of confusion. "Wait… why did we come here, again?" Everyone turned to see Mickey… was gone!

"Uh… where'd he go?" Pence asked.

"He didn't go anywhere. For he was never here."

FLASH 

"Wha-" Meera started, noticing that everyone except her, Kairi, and… King Mickey were frozen.

"But aren't YOU-" Kairi began.

"No."

FLASH 

In front of the two was a very beautiful woman with dark curls reaching her shoulders and piercing blue eyes. She wore some sort of think, black cloth wrapped around her chest, and a long, billowing, cerulean skirt.

"I cannot tell you who I am, only that I am not here to hurt you," she took a glance at Riku and Sora. "Or any of them. Kairi, I am the one who sent the letter saying it was from King Mickey. And I know you all have a job to do, with all of the other worlds. But here," she handed Meera a clear, sparkling mirror.

"Whenever you have a chance, use this to contact me. A few days of your free time. All of you, not just you two. I require that those two," she gestured toward Riku and Sora, "come along. You'll understand why."

"Hey, you can't just show up here and expect us to trust you like this. And if they have to come, then why not tell them yourself?" Meera asked, apparently getting frustrated. The woman sighed.

"It is forbidden. I cannot speak to them in my true form. I shouldn't even be here now, speaking to the both of you. Keep that mirror in mind. Farewell," the woman added before disappearing through a very large, brick portal.

FLASH 

"Hey… what happened now? I know you didn't have that mirror BEFORE… uh… two seconds ago," Pence asked, noticing Meera's new mirror. Kairi and Meera both sighed, sitting down to recap on everything that strange woman had just told them.

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**I'm…So…Sorry… I told you I'd say it a billion times. Seriously. I don't know what I was thinking. But look! It's a chapter! It's short, and it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, but I UPDATED!!!!!!!**

**Please, let me know if anyone is still reading this. I WILL NEVER ABANDON IT!!!**

**Alyssa R.T.**


	7. The Mirror of WHAT?

**The Tale of the Lost**

**DnCnChIcK369**

**The Mirror of WHAT?**

**(I still don't like you)**

**A/N: Awwww! People still ARE reading this! I'm so touched! THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS! Don't worry, this chapter is funnier, longer, and… pretty much better in any way than chapter 6.**

**Review Replies:**

**Naomi-Haraku: Tehe, I'm glad that you're glad I updated! Thanks so much for the review! Here's a brownie, one of my mom's homeade special kind, they're really good, so savor that thing! xD**

**Kairi irl: Hello my friend! I thank you for your multiple super fun reviews. And the part with Riku glaring? It was fun… I think, lol, I don't really remember WHAT I was thinking while writing most of this, but that part… yeah, you get my point, right? Yes, bunches of OCs, but all of them are important to the plot, and yes, they shall be explained. I figured that this is gonna be a story where either smart people figure things out early on(like one reviewer… or two that noticed something involving Riku xD), and everyone else will find out when the characters do. Not saying anyone who doesn't know isn't smart. This is the most complex plot I've ever used, really. And this is ALSO the longest review reply I've ever typed, so ya know what? I will hand you this yummy, homemade brownie ::hands brownie:: and now I leave you. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Thanks so much guys!**

**ONWARD!**

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The rest of that day passed normally. The group wondered where King Mickey REALLY was, and how long he had been that impostor.

No one really spoke much, and the group was wondering just one more thing…

Why did they go to Twilight Town, anyway?

Meera and Kairi sat down in Olette's house (Riku and Sora were staying in Hayner's) and pulled out the mirror. They inspected it, wondering how it worked, and why that woman had asked them to do what she asked.

"Hey… I think it says something there!" Kairi pointed at some sort of small inscription on the side of the mirror. Meera looked closer. It read:

"Wtom om wti Cohhoh uk Epuvuxpgmi"

"It says 'This is the Mirror of Apocalypse'." Meera muttered. Kairi's eyes widened.

"Uh… how do you know that?" Kairi asked, taking the mirror and looking closely at it where the strange words were described. "It obviously says 'Witom om witty coe hoe uck epoovoockspigmi'!"

"I know that's what it says, Kairi."

"Then how do you know what it MEANS?" Kairi asked, getting frustrated.

"What makes you think I know?" Meera asked, annoyed. She didn't really know WHY she was annoyed since she LIKED Kairi. She sighed, put the mirror down on the bed, and left the house…

Only to be pulled into a small alley by her left arm. She fell on whoever it was who pulled her… and noticed silver hair and turquoise eyes. She squeaked and jumped off of him like he was on fire.

"Jeez, you jerk, what'd you do THAT for?" Meera asked, glaring at Riku who was dusting himself off, scowling.

"I need your help with something."

"Look, I think we both already know that I don't-"

"You don't like me, I know, and I don't like you either," Riku finished. "But I can't very well get Sora or Kairi to help me since the thing I'm asking for help for involves both of them. And I'm not a girl, so I need help."

"Are you SURE about that, Riku? I mean, your hair IS pretty long, and as far as I'VE heard, you haven't ever had a girlfriend… or maybe you're just gay?" Meera asked, clearly not thankful for being pulled into an alley and falling on one of the two guys she would never want to fall on.

"Gay, hmm? Maybe I'll try it, just to help me stay away from YOU. Or maybe I won't have a problem. Maybe YOU'RE just a lesbian," Riku told her calmly back, leaning against the wall.

**(A/N: HOLY CHOCOLATE PIE, they're really goin' AT each other, aren't they? Hmm… I didn't plan THIS out, lol…)**

"Wait… are you saying what I THINK you're saying?" Meera asked, walking straight up to Riku and poking him in the chest, hard, when she said 'think'.

"Depends. What is it you think I'm saying?" Riku asked, a smirk on his face as he pushed away her arm. Her mouth dropped open and she turned around, walking out of the alley quickly, and going all the way to where she had recently learned was a very good place to watch the sunset.

She heard footsteps running behind her.

"Hey!"

"I'm not talking to you, you're just a… just a…" Meera stuttered, thinking, as she kept walking, not turning around.

"Just a WHAT?"

"You're just a fruit cup!" Meera exclaimed, quickening her pace until she felt two arms wrap around her from behind. "Let go of me, Riku."

"I wonder how you knew it was me? Anyway, I'm not letting go until you agree to help me," Riku explained. Meera sighed and elbowed him in the gut, causing him to let go. "Damn… you have one pointy elbow…" He muttered, rubbing his stomach. When he looked up, Meera was pretty far ahead of him again.

"Would you just give up? I see absolutely NO REASON for me to help you with anthing," Meera yelled over her shoulder.

"You know what? I just wanted to help make my two best friends happier. And what do you do? When I ask for help, something I almost never do, you REFUSE to help me! See? THIS is why I don't like you! And why don't you like me? Because I STARTLED you?!?!?" Riku yelled, causing Meera to stop walking. She suddenly fell to the ground, hugging her knees, her back shaking as though she were… crying?

Riku groaned and looked up at the sky. 'Dear god, WHAT did I DO now?' He ran forward and knelt down beside her.

"Go away!" She exclaimed, her voice muffled by her legs.

"Not until you either stop crying, or tell me why you hate me. Or both. That would work too."

"I'm not telling you anything!"

"So you'll stop crying then?" Riku questioned.

"I'm NOT CRYING!" Meera screamed, lifting her head. She looked away from Riku and stared into the shrubbery beside the dirt path she was on. Her cheeks felt sticky, and she refused to give Riku any reason to make fun of her because she was easily depressed. Heck, he'd PROBABLY start calling her 'Emo girl' or something.

"Look… I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry. And I'm not apologizing because I'm taking back what I said… well, I don't REALLY think you're a lesbian, but that's probably not what's making you cry, but the thing I said right BEFORE you started crying, that's what I meant as to what I'm not taking back, because I mean it, I'm just apologizing because-"

"Shut UP, Riku!" Meera exclaimed, turning her face back to glare at him. "I liked you better when you didn't talk!"

'Because I don't know how to handle crying girls. But does she let me finish my apology? NO! What the HELL did I do!?!?' Riku thought. She began to stand up, but Riku pulled her back down.

"I want you to help me get Sora and Kairi together."

"You WHAT?" Meera yelled, rubbing her butt from being pulled down right on it. Riku sighed and pulled Meera by her wrist to her feet, and then all the way up on top of the hill, the place he assumed she had been heading.

"Okay, what was the purpose of pulling me down and injuring my butt and THEN dragging me up here right after? You don't make any sense," Meera asked, glaring.

"I didn't want anyone to hear because-"

"Because you're planning on killing me, aren't you? And so you don't want witnesses, actually, it makes sense, I always knew that this whole time you really WERE-"

"WOULD YOU JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME TALK!" Riku yelled. She winced and her hand flew to her right shoulder. She sank to the gound again, but didn't cry this time. "God, what did I do now? Didn't your parents ever yell at you? It's completely normal!"

"My parents are dead. As far as I know anyway. I never knew my father, and I know my mom died when I was pretty little," Meera explained in a weak voice. Riku slapped his forehead.

'Maybe some sort of higher force-being really doesn't want Sora and Kairi to get together. Maybe that's why everything I say makes the person I need help from hate me even more than she already does for some weird reason I don't know. Maybe life just HATES me, in general…'

"Sorry for bringing it up… sorry for yelling at you. I'm sorry for anything I did to upset you, okay?" Riku asked, rolling his eyes so that she couldn't see. 'She tells anyone about this, and I swear, I'll impale her with Way to the Dawn…'

Meera looked up at him for a moment, then winced and looked back to the ground. "I wasn't kidding either, you know…"

"You really think I'm gay? I'm hurt!" Riku exclaimed, mocking hurt. "Alright, how about we make a truce. You help me with Sora and Kairi, and I'll… uh…"

"Never scream at me and never use magic around me," Meera finished. "Agree to that and it's a deal."

Riku nodded and stuck out his hand. Meera turned around and shook it.

"I still don't like you."

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**A/N: Okay, I have way too much fun whenever Riku and Meera fight. And Riku isn't OOC, I think that he seems like the kind of guy who doesn't really know how to handle crying girls.**

**I'm probably gonna start updating really fast again… meh…**

**Well, this chapter has bloopers… I was bored, what can I say?**

**BLOOPERS**

…Only to be pulled into a small alley by her left arm. She fell on whoever it was who pulled her… and noticed shiny, silver hair and turquoise eyes, which were staring back at her. She froze for a bit, as if embarrassed, and then squeaked and jumped off of him like he was on fire.

"Jeez, you jerk, what'd you do THAT for?" Meera asked, glaring at Riku who was dusting himself off, scowling. She noticed, for the first time, that his shirt… wasn't fully zipped.

"I need your help with something."

"Look… uh… I think we both already know that I don't-" Meera was a TEENSY bit distracted.

"You don't like me, I know, and I don't like you either," Riku finished. "But I can't very well get Sora or Kairi to help me since the thing I'm asking for help for involves both of them. And I'm not a girl, so I need help. What are you staring at, anyway?"

"Nothing! And, uh… are you SURE about that, Riku? I mean, your hair IS pretty long, and as far as I'VE heard, you haven't ever had a girlfriend… or maybe you're just gay?" Meera asked, apparently not thankful for being pulled into an alley and falling on one of the two guys she would never want to fall on. Though she had to admit, he has a cute belly button. She giggled a little and then stopped, remembering that said object of giggling was 1) Riku, and 2) right in front of her.

"Gay, hmm? Maybe I'll try it, just to help me stay away from YOU. Or maybe I won't have a problem. Maybe YOU'RE just a lesbian," Riku told her calmly back, leaning against the wall…

Meera's eyes widened.

"Holy… whoooaaaa, are you SERIOUSLY saying what I think you're trying to say?" Meera asked, a light blush coming on her cheeks. 'Did he notice me staring at his belly button?!?!?!?!?!?'

"Depends. What do YOU think I'm trying to say? Now you've got me curious," Riku said with a smirk. Meera glared at him, turned around, and marched out of the alley.

**BLOOPERS**

**See? I couldn't have put that in there. As cute as Riku's belly button is, that comment is going to be stored int omy brain for later use. She doesn't like him enough yet to like his belly button. I do, she doesn't… and I like Edward even more! Ignore that, but he's here right now, and I didn't wanna hurt his feelings. Besides, it's true!**

**Anyway, tell me what you think! TTFN!**

**Alyssa R.T.**


	8. Teamwork

**The Tale of the Lost**

**DnCnChIcK369**

**Teamwork**

**A/N: Tehe… see? I'm determined to get to chapter 10 soon since it took me so long to put up chapter 6! You lucky people. I need to do my other stories too… I just like Riku best right now, I guess, lol, and I'm stuck in The Bloodstone Necklace… kinda. I know what I'm gonna do, just not HOW to do it… lol!**

**Review replies:**

**Kairi irl: Yeah, I had fun with that chapter. SO much better than chapter 6, dontcha agree? Tehe, I'm not really sure if Riku would cuss. I think when he was THAT confused and/or frustrated, he might… and I know I probably would. I don't think Sora or Kairi would. Meera, however, definitely would. The language will be explained later. Actually, Kairi can read it too, ya know. She pronounced it right. That's the main reason I put that there. To let all you peoples see the pronunciation. XD Lol, anyway, yeah, a lot of stuff is tied in with Meera's story. And I just realized how I kinda made a pun. The woman from last chapter gave Meera a mirror. Lol, that's kinda funny. Meera mirror Meera mirror. I always give you such long replies! Lol, here's a post-holiday spirit candy cane::hands candy cane:: Thanks!**

**Cauryn Terenkey: Omg, thankies! I can't wait for that chapter either. It's gonna be pretty amusing. I have one certain chapter planned out, and I know that it's BEFORE then. So that's good, it means it isn't TOO far away. This chapter has a lot of Riku's theories as to why she hates him. I think it's kinda funny. Thanks for reviewing::hands post-holiday spirit candy cane::**

**Well peoples, be warned, the very happy air of this story will soon be shattered. I'll give you a hint. It involves Zopyris. And Meera. And Riku. And Melony. And Graise. And Miranda. And a lot of other people you don't know. Not to mention, it involves Kristal. Did I confuse you yet?**

**I like doing that!**

**Wow, already on chapter 8! I feel so proud of myself! Be warned, though, this will probably be the LONGEST Riku/OC story in all of I'm being serious. The plot is very, very intricate and deep and… I'm gonna stop giving things away and taking up your time. Disclaimer is in chapter one. Enjoy!**

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Meera and Riku were sitting at a table in some random restaurant in Twilight Town. Meera's feet were up on the table and she was staring into 'The Mirror of the Apocalypse'. She was glad her dress was tight.

Riku was leaning back in his chair, clearly deep in thought, and staring at the sparkling ceiling. A waitress came up to the two.

"Hello! What can I get you two today?" She asked, obviously faking her bright, bubbly cheerfulness. Meera looked up from her mirror and took her feet off of the table.

"Water," she answered simply. Riku looked down and put his chair back, flat, on the ground.

"Coke," Riku answered. **(A/N: Do they have soda in Kingdom Hearts? If not, oh well, now they do!)**The waitress nodded, wrote it down, and walked away. "Got any ideas yet?"

"Nope."

"Great…" Riku muttered.

'She REALLY doesn't want to help me. Maybe she just hates everybody, in general?' Riku thought, leaning back into his chair again. He grabbed a piece of bread that was on the table and began eating it.

'Maybe I should TELL him why I hate him. No, then that would ruin all my fun. But then again, he might stay away from me if I told him. This is tough… hmm…' Meera thought, tracing the engraved words on her mirror with her finger.

'Well, that wouldn't work since she seemed to like Cloud, and she also seems to like Kairi. And probably Sora, too, but they don't talk too much. No, it's just me. Why does she hate me? What did I DO?' Riku was thinking deeply. There were then more footsteps and the waitress came back with their drinks.

"Thanks," they both said without changing their focus of attention. The waitress raised her eyebrows and did something she wasn't supposed to do. She asked them about their personal lives.

"Okay, are you two like… dating and in a fight or something?" She asked. They both snapped their heads to her and yelled "NO!"

"Oh really? Why do you keep saying everything at the same time, then?" They remained silent. "Fine, fine, I'll butt out. Anything else you want?" Still silent. "Alright then!" She left.

'Maybe she's a vampire and my blood smells bad. That could be it. But then again, don't vampires think ALL blood smells good? I don't think vampires discriminate unless the person HAS no blood. And I'm pretty sure I do, so I guess she isn't a vampire either,' Riku thought, once again leaning back in his chair.

'Ugh… maybe he should dye his hair, get contacts, and then get plastic surgery. Then I might hate him anymore, and I could concentrate on getting Sora and Kairi together. Of course, then I wouldn't need to, because then, I wouldn't care if he yelled at me or used magic around me. Interesting. I could go and paint him while he's asleep. That might work,' Meera thought, suddenly smirking. She put the mirror down and leaned on the table, her head in her hands.

'Maybe… maybe she thinks I'm horrendously hideous. But I'm not… at least, I don't THINK I am… maybe I am though, and no one ever had the guts to tell me before. Or maybe she really DOES think I'm gay, and she's homophobic. My hair IS pretty long, but that's normal. She's probably seen straight guys with longer hair than me. Like Sephiroth. Or maybe… maybe she really DOES think I'm a girl, and she hates me because she thinks I'm lying…' Riku was still thinking.

Meera banged her head against her arms, her nose hitting the table.

'Must get Sora and Kairi together… get Sora and Kairi together… forget about who you're helping… focus on the task at hand…' Meera was thinking in between each bang. She suddenly sat up and rubbed her nose. "Ouch…"

'Maybe she's suicidal because she knew someone with silver hair who died and I remind her of them so she gets pissed at me… no, wrong emotions. That wouldn't work. Still possible that that happened, but I don't think that's why she hates ME…' Riku thought. He didn't even notice her rubbing her now red nose.

'Okay… I can do this… maybe we should go to a library and check out a matchmaking book… meh…' Meera thought.

'Maybe she likes me and she's only saying that she doesn't so I won't know. Nope, that one can't me it either…' Riku thought.

'Oh! I know!' Meera thought. "I've got one!" She exclaimed, shaking Riku out of his thoughts. He stared at her expectantly. "We can lock them in a closet together!"

"As genius as that is, it would probably work for people who don't openly like each other. Kairi doesn't think he likes her, and Sora doesn't think she likes him. They like each other, but are too scared that the other doesn't like them back to do anything," Riku explained, Meera giving him a sour look. "Good plan B, though!"

'And he has a better idea? I don't think so! Ugh, another reason not to like him,' Meera thought.

'Maybe we should have just done that. I just gave her another reason to hate me. But at least I'm honest! Wait a sec… wasn't one of my ideas earlier that she hated me because she thought I WASN'T honest? I'm contradicting my own brain…' Riku thought. The waitress came back then.

"Still haven't worked things out then?" She asked them. The both glared at her and she noticed Meera's red nose, raising an eyebrow.

"There isn't anything to work out. We're trying to get two of our friends together. We don't like each other. We just decided to work together toward a common goal," Meera explained, clearly getting annoyed with the meddling waitress.

"Oh! That's all? Just stick them under a mistletoe, or hold a masque ball. Either would work, it's nearing Christmas anyway," She told them. They exchanged a weird look.

"It's only October, and right now the worlds seem to be warmer than normal," Riku told her.

"Then take them to Halloween Town and shove them through the tree to Christmas Town! There's bound to be plenty of mistletoe there! And then you could throw a masque too, just to be sure! Or you could even do both!" The waitress exclaimed.

"THAT'S IT!" Meera and Riku yelled at the same time, jumping up from their seats and running toward the door and fighting to get out first.**(A/N: Yes, it is a small door.)**

"I wonder if they need to pay for the drinks since they didn't even touch them…" The waitress said, taking a sip of Riku's untouched Coke. "At least there was some excitement here today!"

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**A/N: I had fun with that, can you tell? You can thank Sailor Moon fics for the matchmaking ideas, tehehe. So here is Meera's mental list:**

**1) Hate Zopyris**

**2) Hate Riku**

**3) Find mistletoe**

**4) Tell Kairi about the trip to Halloween Town**

**5) Nag Riku until he tells Sora**

**6) Find a dress and mask**

**7) Make sure said dress covers right shoulder**

**And I put that in there for your own benefit… how'd you like this chapter? I'm not giving people very much time to review each chapter, am I? Next chapter is going to be quite educational, and a bit funny, with a lot of Kairi in it. TTFN!**

**Alyssa R.T.**


	9. Dresses, Scars, and Promises

**The Tale of the Lost**

**DnCnChIcK369**

**Dresses, Scars, and Promises**

**A/N: I'm anxious… This chapter reveals a lot. Not what a lot of you probably WANT to be revealed, but some pretty important stuff about Zopyris. Of course, there's still a lot more to him than just this chapter.**

**Review Replies:**

**Kairi irl: Haha thanks for another review! Yeah, the Riku and Meera thinking thing… it gets funny sometimes. Because they both have such interesting thoughts! Lol! Yes, the waitress was fun. I might have to add her back in when they go back to Twilight Town… which they will, eventually. Oh yes, Sora and Kairi get quite confused, you'll see some confusion in this chapter from Kairi. And Meera and Riku? You can never predict what they do. I can't even predict it. They have mids of their own. And at this rate, it's gonna take a while for any romance to develop here… I ALWAYS GIVE YOU SUCH LONG REPLIES!!! Anyway, thankies for the review::hands nine cookies::**

**spirit-rider125: Alright, you're funny. You reviewed the wrong chapter! But oh well, I still know what you mean. But I just wanna know… how did you read chapter 8 and then somehow get back to chapter one to review? It just doesn't make sense! A lot were involved, lol, I just couldn't resist. It had some foreshadowing too, might I add. Thanks for reviewing::hands nine cookies::**

**Thanks!**

**Enjoy!**

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Meera looked around her room… or, the room she was staying in. She was thinking about how thanking that waitress might have been nice. And she was thinking about how, if her and Riku were the ones planning on THROWING this masque… thing, then she would need a dress and a mask.

And most dresses don't cover the shoulders very well.

She ran out of Olette's house, planning on going and finding a dress… but ran right into Kairi in the doorway.

"Meera? Where are you off to in such a hurry?" Kairi asked, raising an eyebrow when she saw the large bag of munny in Meera's hand.

"Oh! Me and Riku are throwing a masque ball thing in Halloween Town or Christmas Town, whichever it ends up being in, and you and Sora have to come too! And I'm gonna go buy a dress and a mask, and you need to make sure you have one too!" Meera exclaimed before running past Kairi and out the door. She heard footsteps behind her.

"Meera, wait! If you're gonna go shopping for that now, I want to come too!" Kairi yelled, causing Meera to stop. "Why are you in such a rush, anyway?"

'Because I need to go nag Riku to tell Sora about it, and finding some way to cover my shoulder is going to be a pain, and then me and Riku need to find some mistletoe to make sure we put you two under, and then I need to nag HIM to find a mask… and then laugh at him when I see him in a tux, and then we have to leave to plan it in Halloween Town and stuff because the faster I get this all over with, the happier I'll be… but I can't really tell her that, now can I?' Meera thought.

"Because I'm excited!" Meera exclaimed with a small smile. Kairi smiled a little and raised en eyebrow.

"And… you and RIKU planned this?" She asked. Meera's smile dropped and she nodded.

'Now how am I supposed to explain that?' She thought to herself.

"Yeah Kairi, we just thought it would be a great idea, and Meera, here, just wanted to see how she would look in Halloween Town SO badly, which is why we're having it there!" Riku walked up to Meera and put an arm around her shoulders, smirking, and Meera shoved him off.

"He's exaggerating, but pretty much… that's the story," Meera told Kairi, for lack of a better explanation. "And YOU," Meera poked Riku's arm, "need to go and tell Sora. And get a mask and tux, because since WE are hosting it, you'd better look nice, or you're gonna have an ugly bruise somewhere."

"Ouch, I'm hurt," Riku muttered, sarcastically. He rolled his eyes and walked off to where Meera and Kairi assumed Sora would be.

"Aw man, and here I thought this meant you two were starting to get along, causing a lot less headaches," Kairi said disappointed.

"Nope."

"So… I still don't get WHY you're doing this…" Kairi told Meera. Meera laughed.

"I'll make you a deal. AFTER this ball thing, I'll tell you EXACTLY why we did it. You might figure it out by then, because you're pretty smart, but if not, that's when you get to know," Meera explained, smirking. "Now come on, time to go shop."

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It took a while to find a good dress shop in Twilight Town, but eventually, the two girls found a Tux and Dress shop. Meera and Kairi were debating on going there for about five minutes. Kairi said it was the best shop they'd find there and the dresses looked pretty AND comfortable. Meera was against it because all of the dresses either came off of the shoulders or was strapless.

But they went in anyway since Kairi argued the larger point.

Kairi looked around slowly, taking her time, and finally picking a dress that was light blue in the top and faded to light pink in the bottom. It had loose, short sleeves that hung off of the shoulders. She also picked a midnight blue dress that looked as though it had stars sparkling on it. This was strapless and silky. She took them into the dressing room and eventually chose the midnight blue dress.

During this time, Meera was looking for her dress. She picked up a long, light purple dress that had a trail. It was strapless and had a large V in the back, but she had a white jacket she could wear with it. She also grabbed a short(knee-length)black dress that was very flowy at the bottom, but very tight at the top. It had tiny spaghetti straps, but she had a small, short sleeved, black jacket she could wear with it. She decided she would try them both on, and if they both fit, then she would get both and decide by finding the best mask she could.

She was looking for someone to ask for a dressing room when she noticed Kairi had on the midnight blue dress and was looking in the mirror, seeing how it looked on her. The door opened.

Sora had walked into the store(it sells tuxes too, remember?)and his mouth fell open when he saw Kairi. Meera turned around and saw him, walked up to him, and closed his mouth.

"Careful Sora, don't wanna eat flies, do you?" Meera asked. He shook his head, still staring at Kairi, when he realized Meera saw him staring.

"Uh…um…don't tell her I was staring at her," Sora said.

"At who now?" Meera asked.

"Thanks… oh, and Riku said if I saw you that you don't need to nag him about finding stuff to wear or telling me about the ball thing because he already told me, and we split up trying to find places to go to," Sora told Meera, who nodded and found an assistant to get into the dressing rooms.

The first dress Meera put on was the black one, which fit very well, and she was sure she'd be able to find a black mask to go with it. She went back into the dressing room and hung it back up, not noticing that the door opened and closed again.

She had been completely sure that no one was outside the dressing rooms when she tried on the black dress, and this time she was too, when she put on the light purple one. She went out and looked at hoe it looked on her in the mirror there, but then she heard a voice behind her.

"What happened to you?"

Meera screamed and her hand, once again, flew to her shoulder as she turned around, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Keep it down back there!" A shop assistant yelled.

"What are you doing here?" Meera asked, quietly, still keeping her hand on her shoulder.

"I'm here to buy a tux. Like you told me to. Sora and Kairi are in here too, so I'm sure you know it's got tuxes AND dresses. This is the only tux place here," Riku said. Meera slowly opened her eyes and stared at Riku for a moment before slowly removing her hand from her shoulder and sitting down on a bench.

"What do you want, Riku?" She asked quietly, not planning on them knowing about this yet.

'Jeez, she really DOES hate me…' Riku thought.

"I want to know what happened… so I can help," He told her. Meera looked up at the ceiling and sighed.

'See Meera? This is how everyone is different. No matter how alike two people, or even three people, may be in appearance, there's always something truly different about each of them. You should tell him, since he knows it's there, and you don't want to tell anyone else…' Meera thought to herself. Riku sat down on a chair, staring at her expectantly.

"Not in here… just let me buy the dresses and we can go somewhere… and you can get a tux while I'm paying so you don't have to come back here, okay?" Meera told him, going back into the room, carefully avoiding his eyes.

She changed out of the dress and hung it up, getting back into her own clothes, and exited the dressing room area, noticing that Riku was somehow already done with a black tux in hand. Meera walked up to the desk, paid for the dresses, and handed then to Riku, who took them, startled.

"Can I ask why I'm holding your stuff?" Riku asked from behind a tux and two dresses. "AND why you have two?"

"Go ahead."

"Why am I holding your dresses and why do you have two," Riku asked sarcastically after a short pause.

"You're holding them because I don't want to and you're making me tell you about my scar, and I have two because I couldn't decide, so I'll pick by whichever mask I end up liking better when I go and buy one," Meera told him, still walking forward. She knocked on Olette's door and grabbed the dresses from Riku, quickly taking them to the room she was staying in, and meeting Riku back at the door. His tux was gone.

"Where did it go?"

"It's with my keyblade. I've done it with stuff before, so it's completely safe. When I summon my keyblade, it'll be attached to it," Riku explained. Meera rolled her eyes.

"We're going to sunset hill because it's secluded. And if you tell anyone, anyone at all, what I'm going to tell you, then I won't help you at all with the stupid ball, and you'll have TWO bruises. So don't even think about it," Meera told him, scowling, and walking briskly toward the hill.

"Why is it that you're telling ME instead of Sora or Kairi?"

"Because THEY don't know it's there. You do. So I figure that it's more likely you'll listen to me and don't tell anyone if you know what happened. Don't you dare try and prove me wrong."

"I get it, I won't tell anybody!"

"Good," Meera said, continuing her walking. Eventually, they reached the top of the hill and sat down. Meera looked up at the stars.(Yes, it is night.)

"Did Kairi tell you about what King Mickey told me and her?" Meera asked.

"Yeah, the thing about the girl who Zopyris or whoever wanted to kill?" Meera nodded. "Yeah."

"Well… that girl, the one he scarred at age nine… that's me. Zopyris did this to me. I'm the girl you guys are looking for. He… he used some sort of fire and lightning combination on me when I wouldn't heal him. I already felt weak that day…"

"_You stupid girl, stop complaining! I could always just not give you any of my food at all!"_

"_I… I'm sorry, I just thought, if you want me to help you, you could at least be nicer, or… or give me food that's better than… whatever this is!" Meera exclaimed._

"_And maybe you should learn more respect!"_

"_Why should I respect YOU?" _

"_I'M your MASTER, and you'll do whatever I say!" Zopyris screamed at her._

_Meera winced and calmly ate her food, if you could call it that. Zopyris left then to do whatever it was he did during the day…_

_XXXXX_

_When he came back, he had a large, bleeding gash in his side. Meera didn't know that nobodies could bleed. But he ordered her, right then, to heal him._

_And she knew she couldn't._

_She hadn't had enough food or sleep to have a normal amount of energy, and she knew if she healed him, it would completely drain her. She would die._

"_I can't…I'll die…"_

"_Stupid girl! If you don't heal me right now, you'll die by my hand anyway!"_

"_I CAN'T!"_

_Zopyris shot lightning-fire at Meera, and it hit her in the right shoulder, mostly on the back, but some on the side of her arm and front. Meera screamed out, collapsing to the floor, and by some lucky chance, Zopyris collapsed too, most likely using his energy on the attack._

"_I promise I'll kill you one day, and anyone else close to you. And I never break a promise."_

Tears were streaming down Meera's face as she told Riku the story of what happened that day, and Riku, not knowing how to handle crying girls, did the only thing he could think of doing when she was done.

He hugged her.

At first, Meera was shocked, and she struggled a bit, but eventually calmed down and cried into Riku's shirt.

'I feel… really sorry for her. I can't believe she's the girl we're supposed to be finding and protecting… maybe that's why she was having problems before when I yelled at her. Because so did that Zopyris guy…' Riku thought.

"I'm sorry I'm screwing up your shirt… I'm just completely useless… Cloud shouldn't have caught me and- OUCH!" Meera muttered, and then screamed, looking up at Riku. "What the HELL was that for?"

"Stop moping!" Riku had slapped the back of her head, which she was now rubbing, along with staring at Riku's now drenched shirt, pulling away from him. "You think you aren't of any use to the world, but if that were the case, the world would have killed you by now. And I'm pretty sure you aren't dead. So cheer up!"

"Why'd you have to SLAP me?" Meera asked, now glaring at Riku.

"To get you back in reality! Can't you even imagine how sad Sora and Kairi would be if you died? And Cloud?" Riku asked.

"How do you even know that I'm talking about dying?" Meera asked.

"Because what else could Cloud have caught you from other than jumping or falling off of something? I'm not stupid," Riku explained.

"And you'd be happy if I died, wouldn't you?"

"No! I wouldn't! How could that make me HAPPY? I feel like you thought I hated you BEFORE you decided to hate me! And I don't even know what I did! I'm sorry, okay? I feel really bad now, for saying all of that mean stuff to you, and yelling at you, and I'm seriously sorry," Riku told her. 'I can't believe I just said that…'

"You're only sorry because you know what happened in my past. Think of how you would think of me, right now, if I hadn't of told you about that. If you hadn't seen my scar. I believe that you mean it. But you aren't sorry because you should be. You aren't sorry because you want to take back what you said, or did. You're sorry because I had a bad past and you feel guilt for making me cry multiiple times, even though you don't know why. And until you know why I cried those times, you can't possibly be sorry."

Meera stood up and left a dumbfounded Riku sitting there, staring after her, groaning and wondering, 'Why can't I ever do something RIGHT?'

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**A/N: Welllllll… there you go! Poor Riku, so clueless, isn't he? Probably a LOT of you now know why Meera hates Riku so much. It's kinda obvious now. And She's going to tell him herself soon anyway.**

**No bloopers or extra stuff for this one. TTFN!**

**Alyssa R.T.**


	10. Inside the Gummi Ship

**The Tale of the Lost**

**DnCnChIcK369**

**Inside the Gummi Ship**

**A/N: Tehe, I'm going so fast! All the way to chapter 10 already! I'm so proud! But this story… is going to be really, really long. We've been through two places on my list of places we go to, and we still have 33 more to go, however, the last seven go by pretty fast. Uh, disclaimer is in chapter one… anyway, I hope you all like this so far! Try and take the time out of your day to tell me what you like or don't like about something, like the wonderful Kairi irl who reviews every chapter specifically, unlike the rest of you peoples who just read it and leave…**

**Review Replies:**

**Kairi irl: Ya know what? You are the only person who reviews this thing anymore without me telling you to. But it's okay, because you give the best reviews I've ever had, lol. You're very specific, and I see another super long review reply coming from this… Yeah, the main into-ness of the previous chapters has a crack in it, in this chapter it becomes a deeper crack, and in a fore mew chapters… let's just say it starts to get a bit intense… and then it cools off a little. I sort of have that pattern goin right now, really. I really like Kairi's dress too, and thanks for the in character thing! I try hard. Tehe. Thanks for reviewing::hands piece of cake::**

**Enjoy!**

** _P.S. This chapter will either set off a light bulb in your head, make you think 'I already know this, kinda', or go 'WHAAAAA? THAT MAKES NO SENSE!!!' Just for a warning..._  
**

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The next morning, the group of six(I'm sorry, earlier, I forgot about Donald and Goofy! But, they can't wear tuxes, so it's all good, lol)boarded the airship, which Donald would be driving. Meera went and sat, alone, in a corner. Kairi was beside Sora, talking to him the whole ride. Riku fell asleep, taking up three and a half chairs(this is not accurate, I just guessed!). Goofy was in the front with Donald.

_Riku's Dream(his POV)_

_I was alone in my house with my parents… so I guess I wasn't really alone. I noticed I was only like… maybe four years old. I think this was a little while before I met Sora._

_My parents were in the kitchen, talking about something involving the words 'light', 'dark', 'lost', 'castle', and 'prince' 'king' and 'queen'._

_I still didn't know what it was though._

_And that was when I noticed little black… well, big black ant-looking things come out of the ground, well, floor really. I now knew these to be Shadow Heartless, but I didn't seem to have any control over my body. The heartless flung themselves at me, and I fell to the ground… And I don't remember waking up…_

"_Riku, you jerk, wake up and stop snoring! Other people are trying to sleep too!" Meera randomly appeared in my dream. I knew it was a dream because I knew I wasn't four. The heartless were still mauling me. Meera turned to her left, and then Kairi randomly appeared. "Kairi, I think something's wrong with him. He won't wake up!"_

_Kairi ran up to me and poked me really hard, I even felt it and said 'Ow', but I was still in my dream._

"_But… how can he still be asleep?" Kairi asked._

"_Maybe he's faking it, just to freak us all out," Meera told Kairi. I was guessing that Sora was asleep as well, or he would have probably said something by now. Then I figured something out._

"_Can you two hear me?" I asked. Meera and Kairi exchanged glances and then stared back at me, but I don't think they could see me being mauled by heartless and they saw sixteen year old me, asleep on the gummi ship… not four year old me._

"_Yeah," Kairi said. "Are you faking this, Riku? Because, if you are, Meera isn't going to be the ONLY one who's gonna hurt you."_

"_No, actually, I'm having a dream where I'm being mauled by heartless when I was four. And for some reason, I can't wake up. Ow, that heartless just bit me!" I told them, rubbing my hand in the dream, but I don't think they saw it where they were._

"_So, you're trying to say that you're dreaming, you can't wake up, and somehow you're talking to me and Kairi through your dream?" Meera asked, clearly questioning my sanity._

"_Yeah…"_

_Kairi put her hand on my arm. "Can you feel that?" She asked me. I nodded. She still stared at me expectantly._

"_Yes, and by the way, you guys can't see when I move."_

"_Okay, well, I have a theory. We need to go as far away from him as we can and let his dream finish the way it's supposed to. Then maybe he'll wake up. Or even better. Maybe he'll stay asleep and just not snore like he was a little while ago," Meera said, pulling Kairi away. "Have fun, fruit cup!"_

_So, then they disappeared. I knew I was dreaming, yet I still couldn't seem to control myself… and that's when everything went black…_

_End Riku's Dream(normal POV)_

"What the-"

"Oh look! I was right. He DID wake up!" Meera exclaimed, once again in her corner. Kairi rushed over to Riku to make sure he was okay.

"I'm fine Kairi, I think Sora's had a dream a little like that before, too," Riku explained, sitting up.

"But… but…"

"Come on Kairi, stop being a worry-wart. He said he was fine. Now let him go back to sleep if he wants, so I can kick him if he snores," Meera told Kairi, earning a glare from Riku. Kairi shook her head and went to sit down beside Sora again.

And somehow Donald and Goofy missed everything.

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**A/N: So, okay, I know… it was super short. But I couldn't think of anything else to happen, ya know? So there! Next chapter… it's longer, AND funner! Thanks for reading!**

**Alyssa R.T.**


	11. Second Stop: Halloween Town

**The Tale of the Lost**

**DnCnChIcK369**

**Second Stop: Halloween Town**

**A/N: I might have to split this chapter in two. I don't know, it depends on how many pages it takes to finish. If it's more than my normal amount, then I'm cutting it in half so you'll get the next half next time, okie dokie?**

**Review Replies:**

**Kairi irl: Lol, Riku is more important than he seems in this story. In fact, there would BE no story without Riku. It is a very debatable subject about who the plot is more focused on; Riku or Meera. One day, I think I'll ask my friends to pick a side of that argument and argue about it, lol! Tehe, I really like the plot of this thing, actually. One of my friends from school helped me think it up. She rocks! Lol… Sneaking in comedy, haha, that's me! Comedy is quite fun, but I have to admit… okay, nevermind, I think every chapter(almost)has some sort of funny something in it. I DO know a few that don't… but I won't say which right now! Tehe, yay me and my throwing you off! WOO! Lol, jk, but still… I enjoy tricking people. It's fun. Anyway::hands cookie:: Thanks for reviewing!!!!!**

**Guys… this chapter… thank me, okay? Because this chapter is AWESOME!!!!!! Anyway, seriously… I would appreciate more reviews. Right now, I'm hoping that the wonderful Kairi irl has REALLY GOOD judgment. This story is a democracy, people! If there's something you want more of, something you want less of, and criticism… TELL ME! Please! I'm not saying this because I want more reviews to have a big number. I seriously want to know how you all think I'm doing. I'll still update if you don't review, but if there's anything you want changed, let me know, and I'll change it. I'm writing this for you guys, not myself. I enjoy writing it, yeah, but I want to know what you think of it!**

**Sorry, I'm done ranting now…**

**Disclaimer's in chapter 1… enjoy!**

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For the rest of the funnest ride of Meera's life(is that sarcasm? I just DON'T KNOW! JK, yes it is!)she sat in the back, staring at a wall. She was excited when they finally got there, because it meant she was able to go and buy a mask from somewhere. But first, Donald did is weird magicy thing that changed them all into their Halloween Town clothes.

Sora's was the same as always.

Kairi was wearing a pointy, black witch hat with a pumpkin with bat wings coming off of the tip. She was wearing a medium-length, dark purple dress that was jagged at the bottom and had spaghetti straps. She had striped, black and white socks and gloves and black, pointy, elf shoes.

Riku had black and red demon wings and black devil horns. He had two fangs coming out over his bottom lip, and his pants were now red Tripp pants.(FYI, those ones with chains…)His shoes were the same, except black, and he now had a tight, black tank top with a large, red, leather X on it, on the front and back.

Meera was wearing a long, black dress, and also had fangs. Her hair was now completely black, except for a stripe around the whole thing that was somehow a very shiny white. Her dress was strapless, but she had a dark purple cape that covered her right shoulder and long, black gloves that went 3/4ths of the way up her arm.

"Why do I have a larger version of my old shirt?" Riku asked. Kairi giggled at this, and Sora just smiled. Meera rolled her eyes. And Donald and Goofy were off to find Jack, instead of hanging around four crazy teenagers.

"You think YOU have a problem? I'm stuck in a floor length dress!" Meera exclaimed. "I hope we don't run into many heartless, because I can't POSSIBLY fight in this."

"Oooo, that's true! Maybe Jack has them under control this year!" Sora said, understanding as much as he could about dresses, being a guy. Riku walked off, closely followed by Sora, probably to go and find masks. Meera and Kairi exchanged glances before running after them to do the same.

XXXXX

As it turned out, the only mask stores they could find were in Christmas Town and there was a male one, and a female one.

Kairi bought a mask that was midnight blue and had silver patterns on it, with silver ribbons coming off of the side and customized, burgundy ribbon to tie around the back.

Meera looked around for a while before finding a gold mask that faded into light purple on the left and right sides. It had multicolored rhinestones around the entire edge and around the eyes was purple glitter. The entire mask was decorated with light silver designs and there were purple feathers coming off the left side. She decided on the purple dress.

When the two girls got to the place they were staying for the duration of their time there, they immediately left after putting their mask with the dress they chose.

No one really knew where Kairi went for this point in time, but Meera went to talk to none other than Santa Claus himself.

"Ah, Meera, you have been such a good girl this year! Is there anything I can help you with?" He asked, his elves scampering about, doing random things. She realized that Christmas must come more often when you lived in Christmas Town. And apparently, it was near Christmas time.

"Uhm… yes sir… I was wondering when Christmas takes place here?" Meera asked. Santa laughed.

"Why, tomorrow of course! Why do you ask?" Meera's eyes widened. And she quickly sat down in front of Santa's desk.

"Well, me and… a friend want to help to of our other friends get together, you know Sora, right? Well, it's him and this girl he's like FOREVER, Kairi, and she likes him too, but both of them are too scared to do anything because both of them think that the other doesn't like them back, so me and Riku are trying to help them get together, and to do that, we were wondering if we could hold a masque ball here, like, in this general area, or town, or whatever, and we're gonna need some mistletoe if that's okay, just for purposes of our genius matchmaking, and now I'm a bit stressed out because I feel like I should get presents for them all… as in, all five of them, Sora, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and even Riku," Meera explained, all in one breath.

"Well, of course you can hold a ball! And this is Christmas Town, feel free to use all the mistletoe you'd like! About your presents, though, I can't help you too much there… that's for you to decide! And good luck to you and Riku!" Santa said with a large smile.

'He knows something. HE KNOWS SOMETHING! What does he know that I don't?' Meera thought. She just sighed, gave Santa a small smile, and took a handful of mistletoe from a small basket she noticed on his desk. "Thanks."

XXXXX

When Meera managed to find Riku(the mistletoe was off with her keyblade, wherever it went…)she ran up to him and shoved him… really hard.

"Hey! What? Why'd you do that?" He exclaimed. He had just been standing there, looking in a shop window at… Meera didn't really care. She was distracted.

"Okay, so Santa said that we can do the ball thing, and use as much mistletoe as we want, and tomorrow is Christmas, and I need to buy presents for everybody, and I don't know what to get because I've only know you guys for, like… not very long!" Meera exclaimed, in a much better mood than normal. Christmas just always excited her and made her hyper… abnormally hyper.

"Whoa… calm down. I thought you hated me?" Riku asked, always confused with Meera. She really needed to just make up her mind.

"I never said I hate you! Even if I do, I wouldn't say it! But I don't think I do, I just don't like you for extensive reasons that I'm not willing to disclose right now and-"

"You ARE a vampire, aren't you?" Riku asked, suddenly, remembering one of his theories. Meera stopped talking and raised an eyebrow. "And you hate me because my blood smells bad! See? You even have fangs!"

"Uh… hate to break it to you, but these are only here because Christmas Town is connected to Halloween Town… Notice the funny hair, too? Besides, you have fangs too! Anyway, AS I was saying, I need you to help me go shopping for Sora and Kairi and Donald and Goofy to get them stuff!" Meera exclaimed.

"Why are you so… hyper?" Riku asked, in shock. Meera's hyper-activeness seemed to fade then, and she frowned.

"It's almost Christmas! I ALWAYS get hyper around Christmas! I got a SCAR for being hyper around Christmas! It just happens!"

"Alright, alright… wait a sec. You're not gonna get ME a present? I'm hurt!" He said, placing a hand on his chest.

"Shut up, Riku. I'm gonna get you one too, whether I want to or not, and I can't have YOU help me pick a present for YOU, now can I?" Meera asked. "Now come on!"

"Come WHERE?" Riku asked. Meera immediately calmed down… and realized she was being extremely bi-polar.

"Good question. If you were the present Sora wanted for Christmas, then where would YOU be?" Meera asked, trying to stop herself from getting hyper again.

"Uhm… well… I'm really not sure what him and Kairi want," Riku said. Meera made a funny expression on her face and then pulled Riku inside the store they were standing in front of.

"Does Kairi like stuffed animals? Actually, you were probably looking for presents too, weren't you? This is convenient, I'll help you too, I guess," Meera said. She dragged Riku around the whole store, asking him if Kairi would like this or that.

'Okay… mental note… Meera is insane around Christmas. Who knows why, but she IS. She clearly doesn't hate me right now…' Riku thought while being pulled around.

"Can I help you two with anything?" A shop keeper asked. Meera dropped Riku's arm and turned around.

"Of course! You see, me and him are trying to find presents for our friend, Kairi, and we just don't know what to get her!" Meera exclaimed. The shop keeper, Paul, looked around the store for a moment and then ran off to a corner, coming back with a large box.

"Feel free to browse, I'm sure you'll find something in here," Paul told them, laying down the box in front of them. They opened it and found a large assortment of stuff. There were adorable teddy bears, beautiful necklaces, T-shirts, candy, wrapping paper, smaller boxes, more jewelry, a mini-keyblade, a large, pink, crystal heart, and a portable TV. Meera smiled and ran up to the shop keeper.

"Can I buy the whole box?" She asked. The shop keeper's eyes widened and he told her the price. She had just enough munny, and she was sure that Sora and Kairi would love things from there. She bought and forced Riku to help carry it back to wherever he was staying.(As far as he knew, Sora wasn't there, and Meera knew Kairi was where she was staying, so they decided on Riku's place.)

"Alright, Riku, go away," Meera said. He tilted his a head a little in confusion.

"Huh? What for?" Riku asked. Meera rolled her eyes.

"Because, you doofus, one of these is probably yours, and I don't want you to know which one! So go… do something else for a while!" Meera explained. Riku groaned and left, and Meera plopped down, re-opening the box.

"Let's see… I know what to give Sora," Meera muttered, pulling out a chain from the box, and the mini-keyblade. She connected the mini-keyblade to the chain, wondering how Sora's keyblade would look if he attached it. She put it into one of the small boxes and pulled out dark blue wrapping paper, wrapped it, took a black marker(don't ask where it came from, I don't know!)and wrote 'SORA' on it, and below that, 'Merry Christmas! From Meera'.

"Sora's done… hmm… what to give Kairi…" she rummaged through the box for a bit, noticing one of the necklaces was beautiful. It had a silver chain and, at the bottom, light purple beads making odd designs came down and then there was a light blue, almost silver, snowflake that sparkled. 'I think I wanna give THAT to myself…'

She thought for a bit more and pulled out the crystal heart, and thought for a moment on how she could personalize it for Kairi. Then she remembered that, at some point, someone had told her that Kairi was a princess of heart. So, she took a very sharp, pointy thing and engraved, around the edge, 'Gholvimm uk Tiehw'… and then she stopped, staring at what she wrote…

"It says Princess of Heart… but… that's the same language as before… oh well, it still works I guess," Meera muttered to herself before pulling out a medium sized(the heart is pretty big), sparkling, white bag with black handles, put the heart in, surrounded by tissue paper, and wrote 'To Kairi, From Meera' on the tag. She put it over by Sora's.

"Now then… what on EARTH do I give Riku?" She asked herself out loud. She pulled out the candy and decided she'd give him that… but candy was a very good present, and even though she didn't like him, it was Christmas, and everyone(except maybe Zopyris)deserved a present.

She rummaged through the box… and found nothing else that screamed 'GIVE ME TO RIKU!' at all…

"Shit! This sucks! I try and be nice and then I can't find anything but candy… oooh, I'm gonna kick him SO hard one day…" Meera muttered, standing up and leaving the building, looking around everywhere for something that looked like… Riku.

She found nothing and eventually gave up and walked slowly back to where Riku and Sora were staying. Sora wasn't back yet, and it didn't look as though Riku was either. Everything was in the same place as before. Meera picked up the box and Sora and Kairi's presents and left, carrying them back to where she was staying, being sure Kairi didn't see.

'I know what I could give him… I just don't think I'm ready… maybe when it's Christmas in all the other worlds… I'll tell him,' Meera thought. 'For now… he just gets a bunch of candy!'

Meera sat down and pulled out one last bag and shoved in all the candy she could find. She even gave him one of the T-shirts… and, while rummaging, noticed somethings were missing.

For one, one of the teddy bears was missing… no, two of them were. And two of the necklaces, and the TV… oh, no, she found one of the missing teddy bears. So, one bear, two necklaces, and the TV were all gone. Including the necklace she wanted to give herself.

"Aww… I should probably tell Sora and Riku that they had a robber in their place… this sucks, it matched my dress and everything!" Meera exclaimed. She sighed and summoned her keyblade, pulling all of the mistletoe off, and then dismissing the keyblade. She ran around, trying to find Riku, which she finally did, and he was holding three kind of large boxes that were wrapped in pretty paper. Meera smiled and slowly walked up to him.

"Hey Riku, I just wanted to let you know you should probably come and help me with getting the area for the ball thing ready," Meera told him, making him jump and drop the boxes. Meera picked one up and handed it to him, laughing. "Sorry, I just couldn't resist."

'Has she… ever smiled in front of me before? OR laughed? Wow… she looks kind of cute when… no, Riku, don't even think about it. No. No. Stop,' Riku thought, in shock for a moment, but snapped back into reality when Meera was moving her hand around in front of his face saying, "Hello? Anyone in there? I can't decorate a huge room on my own ya know!"

"Oh! What? Sorry…" Riku said, picking up the other two boxes and taking the one Meera was holding out for him. "Yeah, I'll help, just let me take these back to my place first. I'll meet you there."

XXXXX the place where the ball thingy is being held, I dunno where specifically…XXXXX

"Ugh, he's so slow…" Meera muttered, playing with the mistletoe. She had tried to put some up, but she couldn't reach the doorways, so she decided to wait for Riku. There was, conveniently, already a tree, but it needed to be decorated. And Meera wanted to contact some people she knew… like everyone from Radiant Garden. She even planned on inviting Sephiroth.(This is because I like him, so don't even ask…)

"I'm here!" Riku exclaimed, running through the door and stopping, staring at the tree. "Did you do that? Or was it already here?"

"It was already here… ANYWAY, here you go, go put it in doorways and hang it under that really big light," Meera told him, handing him all of the mistletoe. "I'm too short." Riku nodded and the two spent most of the rest of the night decorating and contacting people from other worlds. They convinced Jack, Elizabeth, and Will to come from Port Royal. Almost all of Halloween Town and Christmas Town was coming. Beast and Belle were coming as well, including everyone else from Beast's Castle. Meera tried to find some way to contact Axel, but failed, so he wasn't coming, as far as she knew. Everyone from Radiant Garden was coming, and the REAL King Mickey, Queen Minnie, and Daisy Duck were all coming.

The overly large room was finally decorated, and Riku and Meera sent out gummi ships to every world that had people coming from it, other than Disney Castle. When they were finally done, they smiled and shook hands.

"Nice work!" Meera said, surprising Riku AND herself by her behavior all day… and night.(Get your heads out of the gutter, you know what I mean…)"Now, I advise you and me both go get some sleep, since WE have a big party to host tomorrow!" Riku nodded, smiled again, and left, still mentally kicking himself for thinking she looked cute…

Once he was gone, Meera placed all of her presents under the tree and then left, a small smile still on her face…

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**A/N: Yeah, if I put the ball in this one, too, like I was planning… it would be WAY too long… way, way, way too long… so, I'll probably update soon! TTFN!**

**Alyssa R.T.**


	12. What a Party

**The Tale of the Lost**

**DnCnChIcK369**

**Halloween Town Part 2: What a Party  
**

**A/N: Hahahaha, the title chapter thing gave it away, didn't it? No, it didn't. You'll never guess what happens! I'm such a genius! MWAHAHAHAHA!**

**Review Replies:**

**Cauryn Terenkey: Okay, you smart person. Gah… Okay, so, first, in chapter 2, you manage to figure out that the voice is Riku, AND why she ran away… to an extent… Then, in chapter 3, you go all genius on me again and figure out something else I won't say here so as to not spoil it for other people. And yes, Riku is the awesomest dork you will ever meet! Hahaha… And NOW what do you do? You predict yet ANOTHER thing about this story CORRECTLY!!! Am I really this predictable? Sniffle… I hope you're just a genius, because I can't make my plot much more complicated! Meh, you are the smartest person ever. Haha, yay Christmas! And Axel! And Riku! As you can see, I have now updated, and thanks for the reviews! ::hands cookies::**

**Kairi irl: You still rock! Haha, yayness to Riku thinking in third person! And Stanta really IS all-knowing. It's super fun. I WONDER who it was who took the stuff? I really don't know. Maybe we'll find out in this chapter. Or maybe we won't. (Winkwink catch the sarcasm yet? Haha… winkwinK) And it'll be a little while before something REALLY important happens between them. PSSSSSSST coughcough Meeraisindenial coughcough… Tehe… Oh yeah! ::hands cookies: THANKIES!**

**Rebel Reader Bitch: Haha thanks! I'm glad you love it! Look! I updated! WOO! I win, muahaha. ::hands cookies:: Have a nice day!**

**Disclaimer's in chapter one… meh… I wish I owned Riku. That would be awesome. Very. Enjoy chapter 12!!!**

**May 22, 2009**

**Wow. I am the most sorry I have ever been in my life. Like, all out, I AM SO EFFING SORRY IT ISN'T EVEN FUNNY! I FEEL HORRIBLE! Please forgive me? Please tell me people will still read this? PLEASE?!?!?!?!?**

**And, um… review replies:**

**Fox of the Fallen: Well, I guess I didn't update soon. Oh my GOD! I AM SO HORRIBLE! Stupid drama. Stupid ex-boyfriend. Making me spend more time with him and stop writing. I haven't written in OVER A YEAR. That scares me. I am so so so so so sorry.**

**Please forgive me everyone?**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

'Stupid jacket,' Meera thought to herself, rummaging through her clothes. 'Where did I PUT it?!?!?!?'

There was a knock on her door.

"Meera? It's Kairi, can I come in?" She asked.

"Hold on a sec!" Meera yelled back, pulling a small, white jacket out of her stack of clothes and putting it on over her dress. She went and opened the door, seeing Kairi standing there, mask, hairspray, and a small amount of makeup in hand, and then she pushed her way through the door.

"I want to help you get ready!" Kairi exclaimed, clearly excited about the day. She normally wasn't the overly girly type, but today she almost seemed like it. Meera, however, had been planning on wearing a dress, fancy shoes, and a mask and being done with it. Apparently, Kairi disagreed.

"But… I mean, it isn't even… the mask will cover up my eyes anyway, and a lot of my face, so really… why do we have to do anything to me?" Meera asked, not wanting to get all dressed up. Of course, they had Donald take off his "Blend In" magic; so all odd features (like fangs, wings, horns, funny pumpkin hats, and evil looking eye makeup) were gone. Kairi just smiled and took out a curling iron, curling Meera's hair, and then hair spraying it. She had straightened her own hair… that didn't do much.

She then applied some light, natural tones of makeup to Meera, clearly enjoying herself. Eventually, Kairi finished, and the two spent the rest of the time, up til when Meera had to leave to help make sure everything was ready, talking about random things I don't know.

XXXXX

'She's late. Maybe it's to get back at ME for being late before… it would probably make sense…' Riku thought, looking around.

Meera was running toward him, holding up her dress so as to not trip and murder herself, and he noticed she was still wearing her boots. She also had a bag on her right arm, most likely containing her mask and shoes.

Riku just… stared at her for a moment. 'I was right. She is cute. And she looks good with curly hair… I think I'll mentally slap myself now.'::insert mental slap here::

"Hey… you okay? You look sort of… out of it. Sorry I'm late, by the way," Meera said, examining Riku, not really understanding why he was staring at her. "Uhm… is there something on my face… or something?"

"What?" Riku asked, snapping back to reality. "Oh, uh, no. Your face looks fine."

Meera raised an eyebrow and walked past him, through the door, before turning around, smiling at the teenage boy still standing in the doorway.

"Well, are you coming to help, or not?" Meera asked, walking inside after that. Riku followed, shortly after, quickly placing his present under the tree – a smirk on his face – and noticing the very large amount of presents already under there.

"Wow… people already put a lot of presents under there," Meera commented, also noticing.

"Yeah… some of these say they're from Santa…" Riku muttered. Meera sighed and walked around the room, checking all of the spots with mistletoe, the tree, all of the tables which now had food and drink on them.

"I think we're all set!" Meera said, turning to Riku, who was making sure all of the ornaments on the tree weren't going to randomly fall off. Meera raised an eyebrow. "Yeaaaaaah… I'll go tell everyone that it's starting, like… now. So YOU get your mask on and try not to break anything while I'm gone…"

XXXXX 15 minutes later XXXXX

Meera walked through the door again, her mask and shoes now in place, and she was surprised when she entered the large ballroom to find it practically full. She smiled and ran over to where she could see blonde, spiky hair.

"Cloud!" Meera exclaimed. Cloud turned around and gave Meera a small smile.

"Hey. I see you're looking happier," Cloud commented. Aerith was at his side, smiling at Meera, silently agreeing with him. "Have you had fun?"

"Actually, we haven't really DONE anything yet. The only reason we're even here right now is because we don't really know what we're supposed to be doing, so me and Riku decided we'd play matchmaker," Meera told them, giggling. Speaking of Riku, he walked up behind Meera at that point.

"Hey, when should we pass out presents?" Riku asked, causing Meera to turn around. She tilted her head and tapped her chin with her first finger.

"I'm not sure… before… or AFTER the food… hmmm…" She turned back around. "What do you think Cloud?"

Cloud was silent for a moment, noticing the difference in the way that Meera and Riku were acting around each other. "I think it should be before we eat."

"Alright! Well, you heard him Riku," Meera said, turning around again. "So, soon is a good idea." Riku grabbed Meera's arm and pulled her up to the stage where there was a microphone.

"Tell everyone, then," Riku told her, quietly. Meera turned around and placed her hands on her hips, an odd expression on the lower half of her face. (They're wearing masks, remember?)

"Why can't you tell them? Why me? I was trying to catch up with my non-biological big brother!" Meera told him. Riku smirked and handed her the microphone. "Hmph…"

"Just do it, already," Riku said. Meera glared at him and turned back around, facing the crowd of people, some of which were staring at the two teenagers on stage in amusement. Meera put on a smile.

"Hello everyone! I think most of you out there know me, but if you don't, I'm Meera. And I'm pretty sure all of you know Riku over there, who is a bit afraid of speaking in public, so he's having ME say all this for him," everyone laughed and Riku snorted, glaring at Meera. "Make sure you always notice where you're standing, seeing as how there's some pretty randomly placed mistletoe all over the place.

"And, just in case you're wondering, we'll be doing presents in about fifteen minutes, followed by eating. Because… we feel like it! Merry Christmas, guys!" Meera told everyone. She turned back around, still smiling, and Riku pulled her off stage. "What? I had to think of SOME reason why you were standing there like an idiot. It was the first thing that popped into my head!"

'As cute as half of my mind is now determined that she is, she is one diabolical, evil, little…' Riku thought. "Well… I just… ugh."

"I'm terribly sorry that I have left you speechless, however, now I'm going to go and make sure that Sora and Kairi are SOMEWHERE near each other, or we might as well call this whole ball off," Meera said, _still_ smiling, and went to find Sora and Kairi. Riku went over and got some drink from one of the tables before Sora came over to him and smirked.

"Alright, Sora, why are you giving me that look?" Riku asked. Sora leaned against the table.

"Well, I thought I should let you know that Kairi is really smart. And, after I asked her out, right after we got stuck under mistletoe, it was almost as though a light bulb went off in her head. She said yes, gave me a hug, and ran off to for Meera. Then Meera made her little speech, and right now, they're probably talking about what I'M about to talk to YOU about," Sora explained. Riku raised an eyebrow.

"Which is?" Riku asked.

"Well, after Meera's speech, I realized what it was that Kairi figured out, and went to come and find you. I'm pretty sure I know why you and Meera did this. And I have to admit; it's a pretty good plan. Not to mention it worked. But then, it made me wonder… why get Meera to help you?" Sora asked.

"Because-"

"No, Riku. You're smart. You DEFINITELY could have come up with this on your own. I bet Meera didn't help think of it at all, did she? It was either you, or some other random person you'd never met before, am I right? This just isn't Meera's style, from the amount I know her already. She'd have probably locked us up in a closet," Sora explained. Riku smirked, remembering their Plan B that apparently wouldn't be needed.

"So, why are you telling me this?" Riku asked…

XXXXX

"Meera!" Kairi exclaimed, running over to her. Meera turned her head and saw Kairi, pretty dress and all, and she stopped looking for said girl with burgundy hair.

"Kairi! Where's Sora?" Meera asked.

"Talking to Riku, probably. I was just with him. And YOU have a promise to pay up on," Kairi told Meera, who smiled again.

"Ah, yes, the reason for all of this? But, you see, I don't know if it happened yet or not, so I'm not going to tell you until I'm sure," Meera commented. Kairi smiled and pulled Meera over beside a very inconspicuous door.

"Well, it DID work, me and Sora are going out now, just so you know," Kairi told Meera, who's mouth dropped open. Kairi smiled. "But, before I continue ranting at you, I do believe it has been somewhere around fifteen minutes, so you go find Riku and start passing out presents!"

Meera closed her mouth and ran over to the tree, looking for Riku, who had just walked over, too.

"Did you just get practically mauled by Sora, telling you about how they know why we planned this?" Meera asked, noticing his deep-in-thought look. He nodded, staring at Meera for a moment, before looking away. "Okay then… you take this half of the tree, I'll do the other half."

The two managed to get everyone's attention, and most people either sat down in a chair, or on the floor. Meera picked up the first present she saw. It was for Kairi, from Riku. She walked over to Kairi and handed the present to her, and everyone watched her open it.

"Oh, wow," Kairi muttered. It was a very pretty necklace. It had small, white pearls along the chain, and at the end was a carved, dark pink heart that looked just like a real one. (As in, the ones you see when Sora beats a Heartless, not the ones that are in our body in real life…) "Thanks Riku!"

"No problem," Riku said, smirking. Meera's mouth was hanging open, and now everyone's eyes were on her. She recognized that necklace. Turning around, she walked up to the smirking, silver-haired teen and kicked him on his shin. "Ouch, what was that for?!? Save the kicking until AFTER you open yours!"

Her eye twitched and she poked her finger on his chest while saying, "Why the hell should I? I bought the freaking box, and I was all super duper insanely worried that some had broken into where you and Sora were staying and stole a bunch of stuff, and it was just YOU! I was all freaked out for nothing! You just decided to steal stuff! The amount I want to give you ANOTHER bruise right now is out of the ceiling and-" Meera was interrupted by…

Riku's lips on hers. At first, she didn't realize what was happening. I mean, she had just been kicking and prodding him because she was angry. What was going on? She didn't kiss back or close her eyes. Her eyes were wide open, in fact. He pulled away, his eyes wide, too, and realized what he had just done. In front of almost everyone he knew. She was just standing there, her mouth hanging open, wide eyes, and slowly backed up before she ran out of the room.

Everyone in the room was completely silent and staring at Riku. He collapsed onto the floor, sat pretzel style, and put his head in his hands. He groaned felt a hand on his shoulder, and some of the light was blocked with shadows. He stayed there like that until he could hear movement and talking again.

"Hey… it'll be okay."

Riku lifted his head to see Sora, Kairi, and Cloud standing above him.

"What do you know?" He muttered, lying down on the floor, taking off his mask and throwing his arms over his eyes. "I didn't even plan that! What did I just DO? I don't even like her! I just wanted her to shut up!"

Kairi giggled, which caused Riku to lift his arms off of his face and look at the three people that cared to comfort him. They were all smiling. He raised an eyebrow.

"What?" He asked. He sat up again and looked around the room to see happy people dancing, seemingly forgetting all of the drama that was going on with the poor, silver-haired teenage boy.

"Riku… you remember what I was talking to you about before you guys started to pass out presents?" Sora asked, still smiling. He was happy with the proof in his newly found discovery.

"It's obvious that you like her. You treated her completely differently than you did when you were still in Radiant Garden," Cloud explained. "I'm going to go make sure she's okay."

Kairi held her hand out to Riku and helped him up. He brushed off the backside of his tux and picked up his mask. He put it back on and went under the tree to pick up the present he had picked… or, stolen, for her. He turned to Kairi and handed the box to her.

"Give this to her if you see her, okay?" He asked, looking really upset. Kairi nodded with a bittersweet smile on her face. She realized why he was so upset. He wasn't upset about kissing her in general… he was upset because she was so shocked that she ran away. Riku turned and left to who knows where…

XXXXX With Meera and Cloud XXXXX

Meera was sitting on a bench covered in snow outside the back of the ballroom. She was shivering and there were a few cold tears running down her cheeks. She wasn't crying because she was sad, and she wasn't crying because she was angry. She wasn't crying because she was happy, either. She was only crying in shock. And that thought only made her cry more.

It seemed to her that Riku liked her. After all, he had kissed her in front of almost everyone she knew. And she was crying in shock. It made her feel guilty, because she couldn't like him. At all. He reminded her too much of… him. It couldn't work. She was too afraid of them both.

But, with this sudden realization that Riku was not, in fact, out to kill her just like she knew _he_ was… she didn't hate him. She didn't even dislike him. But-

"Hey," a manly voice said, said man sitting down beside her. She turned her head to the side to see Cloud, a concerned expression on his face, staring at her. She looked back to the ground. "He feels bad. If that makes you feel any better."

She shook her head and stood up, brushing the snow off of her dress. She decided she would go back inside to get her other shoes and make sure everything was running smoothly. She passed the giant tree and saw everyone happy and Sora and Kairi dancing together and everything. Kairi noticed her and came up to her, Sora following behind at a slower pace.

"Are you okay?" Kairi asked, quickly scurrying to the table by the tree. Sora and Kairi must have finished passing out the presents since none were left under the tree. But there were five presents on the table Kairi was heading towards. Sora pushed her over to the table.

"These are for you! I know you probably want to get some rest, so I'm going to walk you back and you can open them whenever you want!" Kairi told her, leading her to the door. Sora stayed behind and socialized. The two girls walked in complete silence until they reached the door of where they were staying. Meera took all of the presents and went inside, Kairi heading back to the ball.

She put all of the presents on the table and was about to go back to her room to find something to sleep in. She stopped, however, and decided to open her presents. Kairi's was first. It was in an oddly shaped bag, so she was curious as to what it was. She pulled out the tissue paper and saw a large oddly shaped box filled with votive candles, pine scented bath salts, bubble bath formula, pine shampoo, and pine body wash. A small smile came on her face.

Next was Sora's. It was a thin but long box, wrapped in snowman wrapping paper. She ripped it open, not caring to save the paper, and opened the box. She found a fuzzy pair of grey pajama pants with a matching grey T-shirt. The T-shirt was plain, but the pants had snowflakes on them. She smiled at that, since she HAD just been worrying about what to wear to sleep.

Next was a box-shaped present from Cloud. She opened it in the same fashion that she did the present from Sora and pulled out another small box and a large blanket… one that she had loved from Radiant Garden. She smiled and put it beside the pajamas, opening the other small box that looked like a jewelry box. Inside it was a very pretty bracelet, a charm bracelet, with only a few charms already on it. There was a snowflake, a cat, and a dove. She happily clasped it around her wrist. Two more presents to go!

The next was a small bag that said it was from Yuffie, Leon, Cid, Tifa, and Aerith, and the rest of the Radiant Garden gang. She pulled out a simple Christmas card that they had all signed and a journal. A note was attached to it that said "To keep track of your journey, since Jiminy stayed with us."

Then came time for the last present. Her smile fell when she saw whom it was from. She had to resist the urge to just push the present away and forget about it. But she did, in fact, open up the neatly wrapped box and couldn't help but smile at what she found inside. It was the one teddy bear that was stolen, which happened to be extremely soft, and, wrapped around it, was the necklace she had said she wanted to give herself. She held the necklace in her hand and had a thought…

XXXXX With Riku XXXXX

Riku slumped down against a wall, outside where they were staying. He couldn't believe himself. How could he have ever let any part of him like Meera at all?

'It doesn't make any sense. She flat out told me that even if she did hate me, she wouldn't tell me. So she probably does. Now I probably just magnified it by ten, so she must want to kill me. I bet I embarrassed her. I bet she's sitting in there right now, crying, and it is ALL MY FAULT!' He punched the ground. 'Why did I even do it? The only way to fix this is for her to think… for her to think it was a joke or something. That would work. Then things would stay the exact same way…'

Then Meera came out the door, smiling, and holding the necklace that Riku didn't notice in her hand. She quickly noticed he was there and her smile dropped a little as she put both of her hands behind her back, like she did something wrong.

'Like she could ever do something wrong. She looks TOO pretty in that dress. No wonder I pretty much lost control of myself. Typical male,' he thought.

"Riku… I need to talk to you abo-"

"Don't bother," Riku interrupted, standing up. "It wasn't anything, really. I just needed some way to get you to stop ranting, and it worked. It didn't mean anything."

Riku couldn't see it in the dark, but at that time, Meera's eyes watered. Her fist clenched so tightly around the snowflake in her hand that she felt it pierce her skin and could feel the blood drip off of her hand. She didn't realize she was leaving blood marks in the snow.

"Fine. Never mind. Forget I even wanted to talk to you," she muttered, quickly turning around and going back inside the house. Riku walked over to where she was standing and immediately felt horrible. There, in the snow, was his gift to her. The snowflake necklace. But he cringed when he saw it was covered in blood, and surrounded by it in the snow.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**A/N: Once again. I AM SO SORRY! I got all caught up with Adrian. I shouldn't have neglected ANY of my stories, though. It's no excuse. And I apologize. Please, forgive me? Can I still even write worth a shit? I feel like I lost all of the talent I may have had… If you're still here… let me know.**

**Alyssa R.T.**


	13. On The Way To The Ocean

**The Tale of the Lost**

**DnCnChIcK369**

**On The Way To The Ocean**

**A/N: Yo. I'm still alive. It wasn't only momentary. I promise. I really AM back. I promise. So… here is a review reply:**

**MackenzieDuet - 1. I think you mean OOGALA BOOGALA. You left out an o in oogala.**

**2. Jerk. I already knew chapter two was boring.**

**3. Work on your Spanish. It's 'interesante'. You added an extra t :P**

**4. RANDOM! That has nothing to do with this story O.o it has to do with Collision of Hearts though!!**

**5. Duck... you are truly crazy.**

**6. Lol, I'm sorry, please be more specific?**

**7. Yes they did. A very CUTE moment.**

**8. Yes. Vampires don't discriminate. I'm happy to have made you laugh. :D**

**9. Haha, which part was deep? Glad you love it.**

**10. Creezy?**

**11. Oh yeah. Sexy. WORK IT!**

**12. Duck, sheesh. Isn't Riku a jerk? Glad you liked it!!!!!  
**

**Thank for still being here and not abandoning this story!**

**So, disclaimer is in Chapter one. Yes, Riku is a jerk. But, even as amazing as he is, he is a guy, who just happened to get his male ego crushed. So yeah, he HAD to be a jerk. At least he feels bad! But no one knows what's going on right now, haha. Anyway, enjoy?**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The group was finished in Halloween Town and, since King Mickey was REALLY there at that point, he had talked to the group about what they were doing. He was shocked to learn of Zopyris, but said they definitely needed to find that girl he was trying to kill.

No one noticed the sad, troubled look on Riku's face.

King Mickey decided to stay with the four of them, since it seemed vital that he knew what was going on. He was introduced to Meera, immediately thinking she was some depressed emo kid since she was obviously upset.

On the gummi ship, Kairi was the only one to observe that Riku and Meera were sitting as far away from each other as possible. Meera seemed to be trying her hardest to get to sleep, and Riku kept glancing at her before staring at the floor and playing with something in his pocket. Kairi kept glancing back and forth between the two, and Sora was asleep with his head on her lap.

Kairi got Meera's attention and motioned for her to come and sit by her. Right when Meera started to walk over, Riku's eyes looked up again from the floor and followed her, looking back at the floor when she sat down.

"What happened? What's wrong with you two?" Kairi whispered. She didn't want Riku to hear, and, thankfully, the roar of the engine was rather loud. Meera looked directly at Kairi before pulling a Riku and staring down at the floor. Kairi glanced at Riku again before looking back to Meera. Meera looked at Kairi again.

"He's just an ass, that's all. We started to get along, but he went and screwed that up," Meera said, loud enough that Riku heard it. He sighed, closed his eyes, and leaned on the back of his chair. Kairi frowned. She had thought that the two liked each other. She could TELL. But now, neither did. So what had happened?

'I can't believe he would do that. I had JUST been thinking about how I might be starting to like him as a friend… but no. No. He went and screwed it up. He had to be a typical guy…' Meera thought.

'Why did I do ANYTHING I did last night! WHY? Why? I'm such an idiot. A complete and utter idiot. I screwed up big time. Now, she probably hates me again. I should never have kissed her. That would have solved everything. Idiot. I. Am. An. Idiot,' Riku thought.

Kairi sighed as Meera walked back to her "farthest-away-from-Riku" seat. "Riku," Kairi said, causing Riku to open his eyes and look at her. "Come here."

'Shit. She's going to ask me what happened. Shit. Crap. Uhm…' He thought of possibilities as he walked over to Kairi and sat down where Meera had just been.

"What happened?" Kairi asked him. He sighed and suddenly had an idea.

"We were standing under mistletoe and I wanted her to shut up. It didn't mean anything," He said quietly, since that was pretty much a lie. He didn't want Meera to hear and tell Kairi what he had told her last night.

Kairi continued frowning and sent Riku back to his "farthest-away-from-Meera" seat.

Riku continued what he was doing before Kairi interrupted. He had his hand in his pocket, playing with Meera's necklace, and stared at the floor, with occasional glances in her direction. He knew he had screwed up. He didn't know how to fix it. And she wouldn't even keep the necklace he had wanted to give her.

'Ugh. I really do like her, then, don't I? Stupid. I shouldn't. She hates me. I just keep giving her more reasons to hate me. This sucks. I shouldn't like her at all. It's not my fault she didn't want shiny jewelry. Not my fault at all. She just…hates me. So I can't like her. There, brain, take that,' Riku thought.

King Mickey, who was driving the ship, came back to see the four in those positions. Riku looked up and gave Mickey a small smile before looking back down. Meera just looked at him, since he was standing right in front of her. Kairi smiled, and Sora was asleep.

"What's going on? I've never heard four people, much less four teenagers, be this quiet in my life," Mickey asked. Kairi's smile fell a little and she looked from Riku to Meera.

"I see. Well, I figured I would let you all know we are almost to Atlantica, to see if Trident or Ariel know anything," Mickey told them, going back up to the front.

Kairi sighed again. Looking back and forth between the two. Things had been getting better. They truly had. But it was all over now, for something stupid. She kept thinking about it until she completely fell asleep…

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**A/N: Short, yes. I am trying to get my mojo for this story back, and this was quite the difficult chapter to write. I do like the variation I had, however, of kind of having it from Kairi's POV. Do you still hate me…?**

**Alyssa R.T.**


	14. Author's Note IMPORTANT

A/N: Hello everyone! I am letting anyone know who has alerted this story or who is checking it out that IT IS BEING SLIGHTLY DISCONTINUED. But not really. I have, after not touching it for a long time, looked over it again and there are a LOT of things I don't like and I can't bring myself to work with. So, in an effort to only half way abandon my story, I am making another version.

Don't fear, because almost everything will be the same. I will be adding more description and changing some details of Meera's background, but since none of you knew about all of her background yet, it won't affect you much. One of the things I am editing, however, changes a lot in the chapters I've written, if only a little. This story has gotten me so much confidence in myself, however, that I can't bring myself to delete it!

So please, alerters and reviewers, in probably… a month? Look for The Tale of the Lost on my profile page, (or author alert me) and read it. Tell me what you think of the changes. I have awful writer's block because I lost my love for parts of this fic, so I have changed it in order to regain said love. Of course, if you are a fan of Riku and Meera's spats, I probably won't change them. Add more description? Definitely. Change some background info? Yep! But most things you know and (hopefully) love will remain the same. So please… check it out? And don't hate me! It won't be THAT different.

Thank you for your attention and please keep in mind all that I said! (This author's note will be deleted and replaced by some silly bloopers of my original version once I have the new version up.)

Alyssa


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